History is Happening Now

Every poll I’ve seen about the audience’s reaction to last night’s presdiential debate suggests McCain put in solid performance but Obama did even better, emerging in a stronger position than when the debate began.

First, there’s this from Politico:

A USA Today/Gallup poll released Sunday showed 46 percent of debate-watchers believed Obama outperformed John McCain, while.just 34 percent said McCain got the better of the exchange.

Thirty percent of debate-watchers said they had a more favorable opinion of Obama following the debate, compared with just 14 percent who said their opinion of him had worsened.

Respondents whose opinion of McCain changed as a result of the debate were evenly split, as 21 percent said their view of McCain had improved because of it and 21 percent said it had worsened.

The poll surveyed 701 adults who watched Friday’s debate, and all interviews were conducted on Saturday.

Obama’s numbers have ticked up nationally since the debate, the first of three scheduled this year, along with next Thursday’s vice-presidential face-off.

There’s also this:

“Who won the debate polls” are notoriously subjective, of course, so take them for what they’re worth. But according to three post debate polls, respondents think Obama got the best of things tonight:

CBS News: Obama won 39%, McCain won 25%, Draw 36%

Insider Advantage: Obama won 42%, McCain won 41%, Undecided: 17%

CNN: Obama “did better” 51%, McCain “did better” 38%

This Huffington Post article includes some data on this score, including:

A focus group of 45 voters with an “unmistakenly Republican tilt” believed that Obama won the night handily:

[B]y a 38 to 27 percent margin these voters said that Obama won this debate. … A look at the underlying numbers shows that Obama made important gains that could endure through Election Day. These undecided voters had a strong positive reaction to Obama on a personal level. Before the debate, just 40 percent viewed Obama positively, but this skyrocketed to 69 percent after the debate – a remarkable 29-point gain that left him more personally popular than McCain despite this group’s conservative leanings. He also made large strides on being seen as independent, from 44 percent to 65 percent. And in head-to-head matchups against McCain, Obama made significant gains on who “shares your values” and is “on your side.”

And this:

A CBS News instant poll finds:

40% of uncommitted voters who watched the debate tonight thought Barack Obama was the winner. 22% thought John McCain won.  38% saw it as a draw.
68% of these voters think Obama would make the right decision
about the economy. 41% think McCain would. 49% of these voters think Obama would make the right decisions about Iraq. 55% think McCain would.

And here’s what the right-wing Wall Street Journal Editorial Board had to say:

The Wall Street Journal editorial board felt that McCain won on foreign policy while Obama won on the economy:

As planned by the commission on debates, most of the night was devoted to foreign policy and there we give the clear edge to Mr. McCain. This is the ground where the 72-year-old is most comfortable, and you could see it in his self-confidence, as well as his command of history and facts.[...]

Where Mr. Obama did score better was on the domestic front, where he tried repeatedly to link Mr. McCain to President Bush and to what he called a failed “economic philosophy.”

And here’s a little tidbit from the NewsHounds website:

Not long ago, at 2:25 AM ET, on September 27, 2008, FOXNews.com’s question of the day on the America’s Election HQ page asked whether John McCain or Barack Obama won last night’s debate. Obama is currently ahead 54-46%. It’s not a scientific poll but given that FOXNews.com readers are probably more conservative than a representative sample would be, we have to view this as a very good sign for Obama. Screen grab after the jump.

This was the debate Obama was supposed to lose, and he apparently won it.

Meanwhile, here’s what John McCain had to say about the debate:

“I was a little disappointed the media called it a tie, but I think that means when they call it a tie that means we win,’’ Mr. McCain was recorded by a television crew as saying on Saturday afternoon in a telephone call to Representative Chip Pickering, Republican of Mississippi.

I invite anyone to read the debate transcript and comment about their favorite exchanges or lines.