Regardless of which candidate you happen to support, who do you think did the best job in the
debate — Barack Obama or Mitt Romney?
Oct. 3
2012
Obama 25%
Romney 67%
Neither (vol.) 3%
Both (vol.) 5%
“No presidential candidate has topped 60% in that question since it was first asked in 1984,” says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.
While nearly half of debate watchers said the showdown didn’t make them more likely to vote for either candidate, 35% said the debate made them more likely to vote for Romney while only 18% said the faceoff made them more likely to vote to re-elect the president.
9 comments:
As one who has taught policy debate for over 10 years, I could see very clearly last night that Obama lost the debate last night. Sheesh. Obama's performance last night was embarrassing for a sitting President.
What the hell was WRONG with him last night? The Eagles' song "Life in the Fast Lane" comes to mind.
Romney wasn't exactly Reagan-esque. However, last night's debate was the best confrontation I've seen since 1980 in that one candidate presented numbers and the other had little-to-no rebuttal.
Mahrer said, "Maybe he really DOES need a teleprompter."
I only watched a few clips from last night's debate.
The clips I saw were of moments that Conservatives tended to think showed Romney performing particularly well.
I thought he looked pretty good, but he was stumbling. He looked a bit nervous. Not wanting to come off as too confrontational.
He looked somewhat tentative and unsure of himself.
Not terrible, but not great. The clips I saw, I'd say he gets a 78%.
A C+ Grade.
But, of course, Obama has nothing to run on. HIs performance was terrible, because his administration is indefensible.
It is possible the next debate could be even better, because Romney will be emboldened, having realized that his approach is working.
However, it is also likely that Obama's team will come up with a better strategy for the next debate. Some sort of attack, attack, attack strategy.
This could help them, but it is likely it will make them look like fools, because there is not a lot in Romney's actual record to attack. And, the only things one can attack about him are his proposals for what to do now, and that is all theoretical.
Good luck to Obama on that.
My wife and I were watching the debate last night. We were pleasantly surprised by Romney's performance.
Pasto, watch the whole debate, you will actually see a different picture of Romney than the one you painted above. In my opinion, Romney did look nervous in the beginning. A little shifty too. But once he got going, he did great.
AOW, in my opinion Obama was thrown by the fact that there was no applause or laughter...being a narcissist, he needs to know that people appreciate what he is saying. Since there was no applause allowed in the debate last night, that might have thrown him off quite a bit.
I plan on watching the whole thing. And, I am glad to hear your assessment, Nico.
Did ANYONE catch that Lehrer's opening question, the FIRST question of the debate, went to Obama and he asked Obama to specifically tackle the issue of trickle down govt, vs trickle down economics as he saw it, that Obama did not make the SLIGHTEST attempt to answer that and that neither Lehrer nor Romney took him to task?
Romney made the point that, Obama 'does not pick winners and losers" he just picks the losers.
But, his team had clearly coached him that, in order to avoid cementing his reputation as the arrogant silverspoon in the mouth trust fund baby that he is, he better not be too forthright in his attacks, so he was coached to phrase it with this subtle change,
"Mr. President, a friend of mine commented to me that you don't pick the winners and losers, you just pick the losers."
And, because Romney was not delivering the line straight from his own mind, but instead was delivering it as if it came from someone else, he was weak in his delivery.
I am micro-analyzing here. people may say it is not recognizable, but lack of conviction is indeed perceived as lack of candor.
Romney did a decent job, but not a great job.
He had to walk a very very fine line in presenting himself, and I think this probably caused him to be a bit mealy-mouthed, and tentative, as he was forced to think to himself, "Is it ok if I say this?"
This is a problem for anyone who is standing in front of the biggest audience of their life.
Romney did well considering, but
The next debate he will have been able to digest what worked and what did not.
Obama will be better.
But it is not the adjustments that Obama makes, but the ones that Romney makes which will count.
He can not afford to rest on his laurels here.
He must get better.
If the next debate were about domestic policy there would be a lot to think about in Obama's CERTAIN counteroffensive, but the objective results of his foreign policy TODAY, and the world's direction renders this WAY more difficult for him.
Now, Ryan-Biden is next and - look out below. Biden may not be eloquent but he is TOUGH. And expectations for him will be exceedingly low.
Nicoenarg,
Good point about the applause rules.
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