The 2012 Presidential Debates: Who’s Winning?
Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.
Source: Upper Michigans Source
This round of presidential debates is in full swing and with the election less than a month away, the debates might be the decider for the millions of voters out there who still remain undecided.
The Colorado debate that started it all wound up declaring Romney the hands down winner, but the most recent one may have tied the race. Either Obama was simply more comfortable in the open setting of the town hall style, or he managed to up his aggression a notch from the last time around.
Regardless, did Obama win round 2 in the presidential debates or did he just manage a tie?
As of right now, 46% of those who watched the debate in Hempstead, New York believe that President Obama was the hands down winner.
However, in some areas, Romney still manages to pull ahead. When discussing the economy and budgeting issues, most agreed that Romney still had the upper hand. In an attempt to garner economically focused voters, Romney has made the majority of his campaign about saving money and repealing many of Obama’s money spending bills, including the controversial health insurance program Obamacare. As stated by CNN Polling expert, Keating Holland “Mitt Romney was seen as better able to handle the economy, taxes, and the budget deficit among the debate audience, but it seems that issues were trumped, or at least blunted, by intangibles, including the expectations game”
So how did Obama still win? Simple. As seen by the majority of watchers, Obama still manages to be the more ‘likeable’ candidate. In a USA Today Poll, readers were asked about the 6 major personality traits that make up a good leader. These traits include; caring about people, being honest and trustworthy, standing up to special interests, being a strong and decisive leader, working with both parties, and ability to manage the government. In every single one of the categories, Obama outscored Romney. Obama has frequently appealed to the individual and middle class voters, who frequently make up the swing voters. As anyone who watched the debates in 2008 and the Joe the Plumber story remember, Obama loves a good personalized anecdote and he frequently has the abilities to make these individual stories go viral.
Obama continues to gain in areas of taxes in healthcare, quickly garnering support who view Romney as an elitist who is out of touch with the common man. At the same time, Romney has managed to gain a great following from those who believe that Obama’s spending has gotten irresponsible and that significant cuts are needed to make this country profitable again.
At this time, it appears that both candidates are tied as far as the debates go. However, the third and final debate might just be a deal breaker.
The candidates will be heading to the infamous swing state Florida, and will be having the last of their debates at Lynn University in Boca Raton. This final debate will be the most important for many reasons. The debate is in one of the most widely known swing states, it is occurring 2 weeks before the election and it may finally break the tie.
October 22 could be the day that decides, finally, where this election is going to go. Will you be watching the next debate?
Complete 2nd Presidential Debate (10/16/12)
Source: New York Times