Press: Romney Loses Debate; Voters: Romney Wins Debate
I confess to having a queasy feeling about last night's debate -- but to be fair, that's only because of Romney's knockout debate a couple of weeks ago. Last night, Mitt Romney delivered the third best performance of any Republican candidate in a presidential debate in 30+ years.
The best performance was Mitt Romney two weeks ago. The second best was Reagan in 1980. The third best was last night. Not bad.
The press, of course, called it for Obama.
The polls say different. From the excellent Ace of Spades blog: (Have you bookmarked that one? You should.)
CBS Poll: Romney Wins 65-34 on Economy; CNN Poll: Romney Wins 54-40 on Economy, 49-46 on Health Care, 51-44 on Taxes, 59-36 on Deficit, 49-46 on Leadership, All in Favor of Romney
And then there's Frank Luntz's group:
A Frank Luntz focus group made up mostly of former Obama voters say they now support Mitt Romney.
"Forceful, compassionate, presidential," one participant said.
"Confident and realistic," said another.
"Presidential," another told Luntz.
"Enthusiastic," another reacted.
"Our next president," one man said.
"Dynamo, winner," said one more.
"He's lied about everything. He lied to get elected in 2008, that's why I voted for him. I bought his bull. And he's lied about everything, he hasn't come through on anything. And he's been [BSing] the public," one member of the focus group said.
Okay, okay. Who knows if these Luntz focus groups are meaningful? (Frank is a friend of mine, and he's argued very passionately and thoughtfully with me about the usefulness of these things. For my part, I've seen too many of them tell me that "Seinfeld" won't be a hit, but that "Where's That Dawg?" is going to be monster.)
But it's hard not to notice a trend, here. Undecideds -- or, to be more precise, soft Obama voters -- are moving to Romney.
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Re: Press: Romney Loses Debate; Voters: Romney Wins Debate
Romney was after a very specific target set last night. So was Obama.
Obama was after his base voter, desperately seeking the love of Andrew Sullivan and the MSNBC crowd again. Romney was after economy-driven female voters.
On the economy, as the polling shows, TKO.
Nov '10
Re: Press: Romney Loses Debate; Voters: Romney Wins Debate
It's the same old story - the MSM narrative fantasy vs reality. At this point, try as they might, the media can't hide the reality. Romney uses phrases like "I have" and "I've done", whereas Obama is always saying "I will", and "I want to". When you've been president for 4 years, that's not good enough. One looks and sounds presidential, whereas the other appears out-of-his depth and kind of sad. When fantasy clashes with reality, bet on reality. Romney is the next president.
Apr '11
Re: Press: Romney Loses Debate; Voters: Romney Wins Debate
Welcome back Reagan Democrats!
May '12
Re: Press: Romney Loses Debate; Voters: Romney Wins Debate
Obama also used the phrase "When I was President", Freudian slip, no?
Oct '12
Re: Press: Romney Loses Debate; Voters: Romney Wins Debate
Well, we know who matters most.
Our story tellers have lost their sheen, only the gullible believe the Emperor has any clothes or that Solyndra was a great investment.
Apr '11
Re: Press: Romney Loses Debate; Voters: Romney Wins Debate
"Out-of-his depth and kind of sad" belongs on a bumper sticker. Beautiful summation of the last 4 years of the not-seeming-quite-so-big-anymore O. Bravo, Mr. Nordmark!
May '11
Re: Press: Romney Loses Debate; Voters: Romney Wins Debate
Luntz's Dunces Support Mitt!
hey, we're a big tent
Nov '11
Re: Press: Romney Loses Debate; Voters: Romney Wins Debate
Anytime an incumbent spends his time shoring up his base it's a bad sign for the campaign. While no great fan of Romney's campaign, I've never thought his campaign was aimed at me, the "hard right" conservative. It's always been aimed at the self-described centrists/independents that caused McCain to lose in 2008.
The debates seem to be proving that out.
Jan '11
Re: Press: Romney Loses Debate; Voters: Romney Wins Debate
I'd be curious to see if the media, after the election, pauses for more than 2 seconds to reflect that maybe ... just maybe ... they don't have a handle on the pulse of America. (Yeah, I know we've been hoping that for many years, but if Romney wins, the evidence may come close to the tipping point.)
Dec '11
Re: Press: Romney Loses Debate; Voters: Romney Wins Debate
It'll be interesting to see if the dynamic changes and Obama pulls ahead - somehow I doubt it.
While Romney certainly missed more opportunities than he did in the first debate, he had some excellent stretches where he clearly laid out the case against reelecting the President and nicely made the case for himself as a bipartisan problem solver who would get the economy turned around and get the job market hiring again.
I'll be watching the polls as they factor in this debate over the next few days but I don't get the impression it was the game-changer that Obama needed.
Re: Press: Romney Loses Debate; Voters: Romney Wins Debate
Rick Wilson: Romney was after a very specific target set last night. So was Obama.
Obama was after his base voter, desperately seeking the love of Andrew Sullivan and the MSNBC crowd again. Romney was after economy-driven female voters.
On the economy, as the polling shows, TKO. · 44 minutes ago
Perfectly put.
May '10
Re: Press: Romney Loses Debate; Voters: Romney Wins Debate
and one of the questioners addressed "President Romney".
These are the droids you are looking for...
Apr '11
Re: Press: Romney Loses Debate; Voters: Romney Wins Debate
How about the MSNBC focus group that skewed Romney?
I love watching it slowly dawn on the reporter that things aren't quite going as he expected.
Jan '11
Re: Press: Romney Loses Debate; Voters: Romney Wins Debate
Then again, you can ask people before the debate who won (Jimmy Kimmel Live)
Apr '11
Re: Press: Romney Loses Debate; Voters: Romney Wins Debate
Rob, if someone told you prior to the debates:
"The best performance (is going to be) Mitt Romney (in Denver). The second best was Reagan in 1980. The third best is going to be (the second debate)"
would you still fell queasy?
May '11
Re: Press: Romney Loses Debate; Voters: Romney Wins Debate
At the Charleston Meet-up last night we had CNN next to FoxNews and while the 5 second delay at CNN was distracting, I still watched the instant reaction lines on the CNN feed and was struck by how flat the lines seemed to stay throughout the debate. I don't think people were very moved by any of it. Certainly I never saw a huge peak for either candidate. I wonder if that is because the scale is too compressed. Does anyone know if it was different for the other debate?
Dec '10
Re: Press: Romney Loses Debate; Voters: Romney Wins Debate
Except John Yoo's "conservative" friends.
Oct '10
Re: Press: Romney Loses Debate; Voters: Romney Wins Debate
From everything I've heard, it might be safe to say that Obama technically "won" the debate, as far as debates go. Debating style, etc. Obama was much stronger than Denver and Romney wasn't quite as good.
However, it sounds like most viewers, while they might say Obama "won," also think that Romney was more convincing and they liked more of what he said than of what Obama said.
So to paraphrase Bill Clinton, it depends on what your definition of "won" is.
Mar '11
Re: Press: Romney Loses Debate; Voters: Romney Wins Debate
As we learned anew from the debate last night: the questions you ask determine the types of answers you will get. By asking ourselves: Who Won The Debate? we become complicit in a preferred media simplistic narrative which leads to flip judgments and easy headlines. Let's ask: how did the candidates argue particular points and what does it say about how they would govern?
Nov '11
Re: Press: Romney Loses Debate; Voters: Romney Wins Debate
Dave Roy: From everything I've heard, it might be safe to say that Obama technically "won" the debate, as far as debates go. Debating style, etc. Obama was much stronger than Denver and Romney wasn't quite as good.
However, it sounds like most viewers, while they might say Obama "won," also think that Romney was more convincing and they liked more of what he said than of what Obama said.
So to paraphrase Bill Clinton, it depends on what your definition of "won" is. · 5 minutes ago
Exactly. I think Romney had most listeners as soon as he began to make his points on the Obama economy.
By the way, if Crowley screwed up on Libya, she certainly helped Romney with the question from the disillusioned former Obama voter, the mere asking of which was a blow to Obama.