Probably something like this...
Posted on 10/05/2012 5:45:57 AM PDT by Kaslin
The political world is buzzing this morning after the first Presidential Debate at the University of Denver last night. Supporters of Gov. Romney were thrilled with his performance. Those backing President Obama weren't so pleased. As MSNBC's Chris Matthews fumed, "Where was Obama tonight…What was he doing?"
The debate probably didn't change the opinion of the hard core supporters in either camp. But, the opinion of those voters still trying to figure out which candidate to support – the "undecideds" – was the crucial part of the audience both candidates were trying to reach.
While some suggest a very small number of voters are up for grabs, pollster Scott Rasmussen says that 15 percent are still undecided or willing to change their mind.
Melanie Sturm, a friend of A Line of Sight and regular columnist for the Aspen Times, filed the following report after the debate giving valuable insight:
"As a guest of Colorado Christian University where pollster Frank Luntz conducted one of his famous focus groups for Fox News, I had the unique opportunity to watch 24 'undecideds' react live to the debate — the focus group was comprised of 12 who'd voted for Obama and 12 who'd voted for McCain in 2008. They were dialing throughout the entire debate, reacting to what each candidate said and I was able to watch the results of their dialing live. From the very first words uttered by Obama through Romney's closing statement, they were much more impressed with Romney. Luntz would ask them after each 'segment' to vote on who won with no segment won by Obama who garnered from 4-8 votes (out of 24) per segment. At the end, they voted 20-4 that Romney won the entire debate. They reported after the debate live on Fox News that they found Romney to be more prepared, passionate, humorous, detailed, fact-based, and were most impressed by his ability to work on a bi-partisan basis while governor of Massachusetts. They also liked how he continued to defend his plan from the mischaracterizations of the President and others."
How can that be? This morning on Fox & Friends Geraldo said he was an undecided voter and he thought the debate was a draw.
The debate probably didn’t change the opinion of the hard core supporters in either camp...
BS. I bet it had a significant impact on political donations.
BS. Jerry Rivers was never undecided. He’s been in the tank for zer0 all along.
Pretty much Romney has won, no more undecideds.
Somebody needs to explain to Chris Matthews that this is the Barack Obama many of us have been seeing all along; dull, lazy, and incompetent. The question is not what was Obama doing in the debate - the real question is what was Chris Matthews looking at for the last four years? We know what he saw, because he told us it thrilled him, but what the hell was he looking at? It was not Obama - it was some kind of mirage or illusion.
I thought we’d be swamped with polls by now. Are they waiting for the magic unemployment numbers to sink in?
If Obama had done even passingly well in the debate, we would have had dozens of polls by now, every one saying "Obama nailed Romney" and "this election is over." We would have had nonstop poll data headlines twenty-four hours a day.
But Romney nailed Obama. Where are the polls? We both know the answer to that one.
I talked to a couple people at work who said they were undecided now definitely voting Romney. I didn’t hear one person who thought Obama won
Takes a few days to get good poll results. We should know by early next week if the debate gave Romney a good bump.
I overheard a woman telling her postmaster that Obama really did poorly. She followed that with the comment that she hoped he’d do better in the next one. So, she hasn’t changed her mind, but she was definitely demoralized. That can’t hurt either.
The most interesting part of Luntz’s presentation was when he described the results when Romney started discussing his ability to work with both Democrats and Republicans in Massachusetts.
The Obama supporters pushed their meter into the high 80’s. (The Romney supporters were in the mid-90’s.)
My take from this is that Romney needs to seriously emphasize his ability to bring people together again. People on both sides realize how the politics of the past four years has divided us as a country, and on both sides, apparently people want it to come to a halt, if the results of that focus group are any indication.
Because Obama was our “leader” during those four years of divisiveness, it’s unlikely that he will be the one to repair the damage done. Romney will, I suspect, take full advantage of this from here on out, and could even have implications for the black, Hispanic, and women’s vote. The women’s vote, in particular, because a large percentage of them just want people to get along and tend to be turned off by what they see as mean-spirited bickering.
I think this is a huge winning issue for Romney if he continues to press it.
Probably something like this...
“But Romney nailed Obama. Where are the polls? We both know the answer to that one.”
Good point. Ipsos poll was done and Obama lead of 8 narrowed to 5 in their poll ... so a 3 pt shift.
There are still two debates and four weeks before the election. Romney and Ryan need to stay focused and not let Comrade Barrack and Crazy Joe complete a "Hail Mary" pass as time expires.
Read this morn WSJ which describes how Romney prepared.
This is a disciplined, thoughtful man, surrounding himself
with like individuals (if you don’t count Stu Stewart, or what’s his name.)
Apparently they are no yesmen.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.