Dark thunder clouds, lit up by flashes of forked lightning, surrounded the aircraft hangar at Melbourne International Airport on the central Florida coast. This was the scene as supporters awaited Donald Trump's first campaign rally after his first debate with Hillary Clinton on Monday night.

“You are in the lightning capital of the world,” warned Trump supporter David Champlin (53), a senior maintenance technician at pharmacy Walgreens, as he posed for a photograph.

Here, on Tuesday night, along the so-called Space Coast near Cape Canaveral, there were mixed views about the Republican nominee’s performance during his first stormy debate with Clinton, a contest that drew a record 84 million viewers.

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“It was probably the most reserved the man has ever been,” said Champlin, after checking the weather radar to see whether the thunderstorm might delay Trump’s arrival in “Trump Force One”.

Most shared this view, agreeing that the New York property mogul held back. A few felt Clinton performed better, but even they do not expect lightning to strike twice – they anticipate a far more thunderous performance from Trump in the second debate on October 9th.

"Donald Trump missed a couple of opportunities," said David Lemon (50), a property agent. "I don't think he will miss those opportunities the next time."

Standing next to his identical twin Michael, the brothers wore matching "Les Deplorables" T-shirts, a parody of the Les Miserables portrait of French revolutionaries and a proud label these Republicans wear in defiance of Clinton's "basket of deplorables" gaffe about half of Trump's fans.

There was a common view among Trump’s “deplorables”: that he was up against an experienced debater and skilled politician on Monday night, and it was inevitable that he come off the poorer.

“She looked better, but I think what he said was better but he wasn’t as polished. I think he was told to go a bit easy, not to destroy her,” said Mick Hall (59), who is originally from England but has lived and voted Republican for the 21 years he has lived in Florida.

“I personally think she won it,” said Hall’s wife, Jill. “I am sad that she did because I don’t want her as the next president. He was flustered . . . very agitated. He needed to calm down a little bit.”

“He is walking a fine line,” said artist and gallery owner Stephen Reiss (54). “There’s that fine line between being strong and presidential, and being accused of attacking a woman.”

Trump’s arrival

The storm did not prevent Trump’s arrival. The crowd erupted when stirring orchestral music blasted out as his plane taxied up to the hangar and the billionaire walked down the mobile steps.

Florida is a crucial swing state that Trump must win if he has any chance of taking the White House. Polls show the race in the state, as it is nationally, on a knife-edge.

The Real Clear Politics average of polls gives Clinton a half-point lead in Florida.The data forecasting site FiveThirtyEight is tipping it towards Trump with a 56 per chance of winning here, compared with 44 per cent for Clinton.

"We are going to win Florida so big," said Trump, to huge cheers from the 8,500-strong crowd in Brevard County, which Republican Mitt Romney won by decisive 13 points four years ago.

At first mention of his debate with Clinton, his audience broke out in chants of “Lock Her Up!” – now a regular rallying cry at these events. Trump laid into Clinton for about an hour, swinging harder than he did during the debate.

“I was holding back,” he said. “I didn’t want to embarrass her.”

The Republican played to the crowd on a point he scored strongest on in the debate: that he is the candidate of “dramatic change” and Clinton the defender of “the terrible status quo”.

“She is the candidate of yesterday and ours is the campaign – and we are the people – of the future,” Trump said, firing up the almost exclusively white crowd.

Trump’s message resonates with his supporters, and the first debate reinforced the view that he is an blustery outsider trying to wash away a broken politics-as-usual model.

“He is a businessman who realised that we need to change the country and he does not fit the typical mould of what a politician looks like,” said Michael Winans (53), a retired air force veteran.

“Yeah, he might be a bit rough around the edges, but I think that’s actually what we need. We need somebody to stand up and do what needs to be done.”

Anthony Harmon (34), a manager with an electrical company, believes that a reserved, politically correct politician, one who is afraid to say what needs to be said, is the last thing the country needs.

“He has two more debates to go. He has got some stuff up his sleeve,” Harmon predicted, as the thunder clouds rolled closer overhead.