Obama topped McCain in debate: Gallup

[WillyT]

<snip>

by Mark Silva

Voters who watched the first presidential debate between Barack Obama and John McCain - nearly two-thirds of those surveyed on Saturday in Gallup's daily tracking surveys - gave Democrat Barack Obama higher marks than Republican John McCain.

Among those who said they saw Friday night's premiere debate, 46 percent said Obama did a better job and 34 percent said McCain did, according to a USA Today/Gallup Poll run Saturday.

The Gallup daily track of the past three days, Thursday through Saturday, also has found that Obama has gained a wider advantage over McCain - an eight-percentage point lead, 50-42.

"The data show a predictable pattern of response from Republicans and Democrats,'' Gallup notes of the debate-ratings:

"Seventy-two percent of the former and 74 percent of the latter said that their party's candidate did the better job in the debate. This reinforces the conventional wisdom that many viewers watch a debate through their preexisting perceptual framework and end up with nothing more than reinforcement for what they believed before the debate began.

"But among the crucial group of independents who watched the debate -- those most likely to actually be swayed by what transpired, Obama won by 10 points, 43 to 33 percent..

"Not only did Obama win the debate among debate watchers, they say that their attitudes towards the Democratic candidate also improved as a result,'' Gallup reports. "Thirty percent of debate watchers said they came away with a more favorable image of Barack Obama, while just 14 percent said they had a less favorable image.

"On the other hand, John McCain did not fare as well. Just as many watchers said that they developed a less favorable image of John McCain - 21 percent -- as said they gained a favorable image of McCain as a result of the debate.

Questions about the debate were posed to a random sample of 1,005 adults as part of the Gallup Poll Daily tracking program on Saturday. Of the total sample of adults, 63 percent said they had watched the debate. Another 12 percent said that they had seen, heard, or read news coverage of the debate, and the rest said they had neither seen the debate nor news coverage of it.

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Link: http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/09/obama_topped_mccain_in_debate_1.html

:woohoo:

:kick:

[grannie4peace]

1. sweet!!!!!!!

[WillyT]

2. I'm Almost Afraid To Let Myself Smile...

But I have a big ole grin goin right now!

:hi:

[grannie4peace]

4. .

:hi:

[npincus]

3. the above cited poll numers are for general election preference

though Obama did beat McCrap in the USA Today/Gallup on debate perfromance preference.

[Cha]

5. Rec'd! I don't care how many times

mccain claims he won the first Debate..he can only vote for himself once..and the people are deciding this.

[Kahuna]

6. I just sent both Gallup polls to Morning Joe to make sure they have them

for the morning show. :patriot:

[DainBramaged]

9. Morning Schmo

[gblady]

7. that graph....

is a beauty to behold...

[WillyT]

8. LOL !!!

Yes... Yes it is!!!

:hi: