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Who Won the Debate?
WHO WON THE DEBATE?....A non-snap poll done on Saturday suggests that Barack Obama really did win Friday's debate:
A new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll shows 46% of people who watched Friday night's presidential debate say Democrat Barack Obama did a better job than Republican John McCain; 34% said McCain did better.
....The poll suggested the debate was to some extent a wash for McCain: 21% of those who watched say it gave them a more favorable view of him, 21% say less favorable and 56% say it didn't change their opinion much.
Three in 10 said their opinion of Obama became more favorable after seeing the debate, compared to 14% who said less favorable and 54% who said it didn't make much difference.
Polls done on weekends are tricky, and "winning" debates doesn't always translate into a tangible advantage. Still, it's notable that a significant number of people who were apparently unsure about Obama before the debate now see him in a favorable light. That's a big deal, since being taken seriously is the biggest hurdle for a younger, less-experienced candidate to get over.
And while we're at it, here's the RealClear Politics poll average, which doesn't yet account for any possible bump Obama might have gotten from the debate. As of this morning, they have him 4.8 points ahead.
There is no way Barrack Hussein Obama did a better debate than McCain. McCain has more experience to run this country and proved it in one debate. Obama proved he has nothing to offer the people of America. Maybe he can request more of he big earmark pork spending. Lord Help Us If Barrack Huusein Obama is elected president of America.
My hope is that McCain's latest trend is people finally waking up to how recklessly he has put the country's future at risk by picking Palin.
Er, FWIW the RCP average does take into account some of Obama's apparent post-debate bump in the three trackers RCP includes (which go through yesterday evening). All the usual caveats about weekends and events taking time to sink in still apply, of course.
5 McCain points awarded to Deloris. Keep going, Deloris, you're almost halfway to earning yourself a pack of golf balls!
What? Barrack [sic] Obama's middle name is Hussein?! I'm totally not voting for him! Thanks, Deloris, for that trenchant insight.
Barack did win the debate.To judge a person on his middle name is short sitted and bigoted.
John McCain did perform better than I thought he would, taking into account that he graduated 4th from the bottom of his class compared to Obama who is a Harvard graduate. McCain was bitter and nasty, he wouldn't even give Barack the respect of looking directly at him. What McCain "doesn't understand" is that being nasty and insulting is not a subsitute for substance and knowledge
"McCain was bitter and nasty, he wouldn't even give Barack the respect of looking directly at him." If republican McCain wouldn't give Senator Obama the respect of looking at him directly in the eye, how could we expect him to look at Putin squarely in the eye?!?
If republican McCain wouldn't give Senator Obama the respect of looking at him directly in the eye, how could we expect him to look at Putin squarely in the eye?!?
Especially as he rears his head over Alaskan air space!
Delores: "McCain has more experience to run this country [into the ground] and proved it in one debate."
Fixed it for you.
John McCain did perform better than I thought he would, taking into account that he graduated 4th from the bottom of his class compared to Obama who is a Harvard graduate.
Actually, Obama is a Columbia graduate, with a Harvard Law degree to boot. Let's give the Morningside Heights folks their due.
It is people like Delores who
promote bigotry in America and erode all that can be good about this country. No well-qualified person would ever pick Sarah Palin for any important public office. I wouldn't have her in my book club.
Who won Friday's first presidential debate? Who cares!
Since the debate ended, the news media and bloggers have debated who should be crowned the debate's winner- but there are two major problems with this kind of campaign coverage. First, there is no clear consensus on who the winner was- liberal blogs are reporting a solid win for Obama, but some news organizations are trumpeting that McCain was the victor. Polls have shown numbers varying from 72% of respondents calling the debate for McCain (the Drudge Report) to just 34% of respondents saying McCain did better (USA TODAY/Gallup). One internet advertisement even reported that McCain had won before the debate began! Second, past polls have shown that winning a debate doesn't necessarily translate to a political advantage.
So, even if McCain shouldn't have smirked at his opponent's responses, or could have used more humor to be more effective, it doesn't matter much. In the end, all of the media's discussion about who looked better and remained more composed is wasted space that could be spent talking about issues!
I called the Commission on Presidential Debates, which sponsored all the presidential debates between 1988 and 2004, and asked why the perceived outcome of a debate was so important. The spokesman I talked to said the debates are an opportunity for Americans to judge the candidates as people, not just as policies, and the human element is why the media feels it is so important to pronounce a winner for each debate.
Well, I say that the media, and apparently the American public, has the wrong idea. It doesn't matter who looked nicer in his suit on Friday, or who managed to look more composed. What matters are the candidates' policies, and those policies, and those policies alone, should be the focus of campaign reporting.
Im only 16 but I love my country and try my best to stay up to par with the current political issues at hand. I am an independant and watched the debate with a neutral mind-set taking into consideration how these two presidential candidates performed based on knowledge and how well they handled the subjects at hand and how they responded to each other's attacks. After adding up all my scores I came to the conclusion that Obama had performed better than McCain. Again, not judging this by what policy I think would be better. It seemed as though Obama was more enthused and seemed to speak firmly and it seemed I tallied up more falacies coming from McCain than Obama. I do agree we should turn this blog around however, and make it more about the issues at hand rather than the individual candidates. McCain did perfrom much better than I believed he would, I personally would like to see Obama elected into office though.