George Harris
Kansas City Star
Reader Advisory Panel 2008
These results were updated 6:30 a.m. Oct. 16
The CNN focus group voted 15 to 10 in favor of Obama over McCain.
A CNN poll of viewers (40% Democrats, 30% Republicans) voted Obama the winner 58% to 31%. McCain's unfavorable ratings rose during the debate. Obama was rated more likable.
Independents in the CNN poll rated Obama the winner 57% to 31%
MediaCurves.com reported a poll of 1402 people. Republicans thought McCain won 70% to 18% with 12% undecided. Democrats thought Obama won with 81% to McCain's 10% with 9% undecided. Independents thought Obama won 60% to 30% with 10% undecided
Fox News' unscientific poll (web based) with 46,341 responders: Obama 67%, McCain 33%.
(This result makes me wonder whether Obama supporters are flooding the site.)6:30 a.m. update: I could not find a poll update at the Fox web site. I'll keep looking.
AOL's unscientific poll (web based) with 376,408 responders showed Obama winning the debate 48% to McCain's 46%.
MSNBC's unscientific poll (web based) showed Obama winning 83.9% to McCain's 12.9%.
An MSNBC focus group in Kansas City voted that Obama won the debate 20 to 7.
A CBS nationally representative sample of 638 debate watchers who identified themselves as uncommitted indicated that 53% thought Obama won the debate, 22% thought McCain won the debate, and 25% judged the debate a tie.
An unscientific (web based) CBS poll showed Obama winning 84.7% to McCain's 13.06% with 2.06% judging the debate a tie.
Web based polls will change as people log on and vote.
Commentary:
Regardless of debating points, the tone of the debate likely drove viewers' reactions.
Senator McCain hasn’t learned how to disagree without being disagreeable. He was sarcastic, angry and condescending for the entire evening. We all get angry, but do we have to be constantly angry? If we want to restore civility in Washington D.C., Senator Obama is the better choice. Senator Obama looked more presidential than Senator McCain all evening.
What is also concerning about Senator McCain's performance is that he didn't learn anything from the reactions to his anger in debates 1 and 2. Is he incapable of seeing the way people responded to him?
How can Senator McCain justify his negative campaign, saying that it wouldn’t have happened if Senator Obama had agreed to a series of town hall meetings. This is disturbing logic. He added that he is proud of the people who have attended his rallies. But we have heard the comments of (some) of those people, and the comments are disconcerting.
Senator Obama said he would accept the federal money and limits for his campaign and then changed his mind when he concluded that he could raise more money than Senator McCain. Obama is trouncing Senator McCain in the ad wars, and Senator McCain is complaining. It’s a fair criticism. But the reality of the system is that outside groups can raise as much money as they want and put up attack ads as they please. Obama made the pragmatic decision to have the money to combat this, and McCain would have done the same thing if he’d had Obama’s fundraising ability. It’s ugly and will stay that way until there is real campaign reform that doesn’t get overruled by the Supreme Court.
McCain says Biden was wrong about partitioning Iraq because Iraq is now coming together. Sunni and Shiite neighborhoods are now more segregated than ever, and when our soldiers leave, no matter now or later, there will be bloodshed. I suspect most people intuitively recognize this, but in any case, they're not really listening to McCain's thoughts about Iraq.
McCain's continued support of Sarah Palin brings his credibility into question. But what else can he do? He made this choice and has to stick with it, but the choice shows bad judgment.
Senator Obama tried to refocus the debate on issues and developed his theme of change. But the tone of the debate was likely the determining factor in voter preference.
6:30 a.m. Oct. 15 update:
A quick look at pundits' reactions: Mark Halperin of Time gave McCain a win over Obama, noting that Obama appeared aloof. Chuck Todd also appeared to favor McCain's performance but said he doubted the debate would change voters.
Perceptions of a debate can change over the days following a debate, and no doubt reporters will ask Joe the Plumber his opinion. After the first debate, David Broder declared McCain the winner as did numerous other pundits.
Though the pundits' appraisals are no doubt sincere, they are not listening with a voters' ears. Senator McCain looks and sounds just like the old style politician he says he wants to see removed from Washington D.C. Obama appears unflappable, reasonable and highly intelligent, and he is winning the battle for the independent voter.
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McCain is a petulant child
"If you don't play by my rules you're gonna make me be mean" seems to be the McCain logic for his personal attacks. I don't understand why no one has called him on this before. He sounds like an abusive spouse, it's all Obama's fault,he's made McCain be bad.
As of yet no one has challenged the Republican dogma about capital gains taxes. It assumes that wages earned by working people are less valuable to the economy than investment income. Isn't consumer spending one of the most influential segments in the ecomony? Aren't we fighting terrorism by going to the mall? Aren't working people the ones that create that investment income? I think it's time for demand-side economics to be acknowledged.
McCain is a petulant child
"If you don't play by my rules you're gonna make me be mean" seems to be the McCain logic for his personal attacks. I don't understand why no one has called him on this before. He sounds like an abusive spouse, it's all Obama's fault,he's made McCain be bad.
As of yet no one has challenged the Republican dogma about capital gains taxes. It assumes that wages earned by working people are less valuable to the economy than investment income. Isn't consumer spending one of the most influential segments in the ecomony? Aren't we fighting terrorism by going to the mall? Aren't working people the ones that create that investment income? I think it's time for demand-side economics to be acknowledged.
Most Scary Moment...
I was amazed that McCain went there. Telling the TV audience that he was proud of the people at his rallys was one thing, but he needed to temper it, and he did not. I also was surprised that he used the pathetic excuse of town hall meetings to explain why it was okay for his campaign to grab as some extremely tenuous associations. The Raines one at Fannie Mae was just absurd. And the Ayers one? Downright silly. I wonder how Ambassador Leonore Annenberg about endorsing John McCain now? I wonder how Arnold Weber of Northwestern University, feels about his $1500.00 he donated to John McCain?