CNN: Polls Say Obama Won, Disaster for McCain by EmperorHadrian Fri Sep 26, 2008 at 08:57:55 PM PDT
"Somehow, CNN has already conducted an actual phone poll which shows that voters overwhelmingly think Obama won the debate. Apparently, CBS just released a poll with a similar result. One CNN pundit (David Gergen) implied that these numbers, if correct, may be a fatal disastor for John McCain's campaign...
David Gergen said:
I cannot emphisize how important I think these numbers are, because this is a pivotal night for John McCain. He needed to take this night, and if these polls are right, that is a major deal in this election, because this is his home turf, because Barack Obama is the younger man, and the issue is 'can the younger man hold his own with the older guy with more experience'. Thats what John Kennedy did in 1960, because that won the debate that drove the election and elected him, because he held his own.
I don't know who won or lost, but because I cannot say that McCain definately won, I have to say that ultimately it is a loss for McCain. He is behind in the polls, and is falling further behind. Without a big win, he loses one of his last chances, maybe the last chance, to cut Obama's lead. And if he can't win tonight, when is he going to win?
Update: CNN just released some internals from their poll which showed that Obama won the debate. 48% of voters 50 and older thought Obama won, but only 40% thought McCain won. This, of course, is McCain's base. Men gave McCain a margin of only 3%, and women gave Obama a margin of about 20%. More horrible news for McCain. John King made the point that it is these people (50 and older) who are looking at their 401K's, which they spent decades building up, only to see everything now gone"...
-snip-
It appears that Senator Obama's debating strategy was to reassure the undecided voters not only that he knows about foreign policy, but also that he is not threatening. CNN polls, Halperin, and other commentors confirm that the majority of undecided viewers thought that Obama was calm, knowledgable, and presidential and McCain was much less so.
Imo, Senator McCain's rude, condescending body language coupled with his rambling comments reinforced the image of an old, tired, mean spirited man, and helped him lose this debate.
Next up-Sarah Palin vs Joe Biden. And, somehow, I don't see that going very well for the McCain-Palin camp.