So, Who Won the Debate?
September 27th, 2008 by jacob
I watched it and saw a draw. McCain missed several opportunities to score on the economic front in the beginning and that is huge. Obama’s risible “95% of the public will not see a tax increase” is false. First of all, the bottom 40% of income earners pay no federal income tax. This is redistribution of wealth pure and simple. Face it, the people pay the “rich guys‘” taxes anyway. The extra cost is added to the price of the product, then paid for by the suckers, a.k.a the electorate.
The other shoe is the increase in tax rates on investment income, which will impact everyone who has a 401(k), not just those making over $250k per year. In case you are wondering, over fifty million Americans have 401(k)’s. If investment income tax rates are increased, the entire market will be depressed. Obama makes the classic liberal mistake of treating investment income the same as wages. Such a tax increase would lead to a decrease in investment in our domestic economy, a flight of foreign investment, and an acceleration of corporate flight overseas. The end result would be a smaller 401(k) portfolio.
Why McCain did not address this during the debate is a mystery.
Obama spent the next 5-6 foreign policy questions getting a scolded by McCain on his gross naivete, and rightly so. Nobody expected otherwise, except for the fact that one round of economics in this climate balances five rounds of foreign policy. The sad thing is that Obama, while pummeled in this arena, did not appear to learn a damned thing.
Here are some polls regarding the outcome of the debate:
At PolitikerWA:
A Survey USA poll conducted after tonight’s presidential debate found that Washingtonians are nearly split on who won. Forty percent said McCain won while 38 percent said Obama.
According to CNN: Obama 51, Mcain 38. This was reported in paragraph two; in the second to last paragraph of the article, one reads this:
The results may be favoring Obama simply because more Democrats than Republicans tuned in to the debate. Of the debate-watchers questioned in this poll, 41 percent of the respondents identified themselves as Democrats, 27 percent as Republicans and 30 percent as independents.
Oh well. One day CNN might finally ‘get it’. Over at the Drudge Report, on 9/27/08 at 10 a.m., based on a sample size of 272,471 the results are:
McCain 67, Obama31.
I wonder what the sample percentages (Democrat v. Republican v. Independent) are here.
At the Kansas City Star, George Harris sites the MSNBC, CBS, CNN and Insider Advantage polls are reported. The MSNBC, CBS and IA polls are shown below, the CNN poll was discussed above.
CBS Insta Poll shows Barack Obama won 39% to John McCain’s 25% with 36% saying the debate was a draw.
Insider Advantage reports those polled Obama won 42% to McCain’s 41% with Undecided 17%
…
The MSNBC on-line (non-scientific) poll showed Obama winning the debate 52% to 33%. (But this is what one would expect from such a poll at MSNBC because of the nature of its viewers.)
A sample size tally and sample breakdown would be helpful here. The author of the article did not bother to provide insight in this regard, instead Harris was interested in further ripping into McCain.
The FoxNews text message poll taken last night of the debate showed:
McCain won 84 to Obama’s 16.
This was based on a sample size of 20K+. Again it was unscientific as it did not check the mix of voters. The poll taken on the Fox News site shows:
McCain won 51 to Obama’s 49.
This is a tie. At the site Townhall.com the poll shows:
McCain won 70 to Obama’s 21.
This site is heavily republican, It does not even provide a sample size. At the Mercury Newsin silicon valley
Obama won 69 to McCain’s 24.
based on a sample size of 1644. The disparate result only confirm my suspicion that the pols have become opinions formers, not opinion measurements. How to undo this sad result is beyond me. We are a nation of people with many news venues to choose from. The news is biased depending on where you go, the degree of bias at each venue can be debated. The end result is we sit in echo chambers of our choosing.
Lehrer allowed the two candidates to mix it and that made it one of the better debates in recent memory. Both candidates tried to talk over each other, interestingly despite McCain’s reputation for having a temper, it was Obama who appeared more agitated, with McCain taking the role of gad-fly. Kudos to Lehrer for allowing this meeting to actually become a true debate. It would serve the county well if others took Lehrer’s example to heart.
The end result was Obama survived, that is all he needed to do. I am predicting an Obama presidency at this point. The winds are blowing in his direction, McCain missed a big chance to go after Obama and land a real blow. I plan to get numb November 4th and stay that way for several years.
This entry was posted on Saturday, September 27th, 2008 at 12:19 pm and is filed under Campaign 2008, Philosophy, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
September 27th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
Today’s Gallup and Rasmussen have Obama up 5 and 6 points the best ever.
Looks like the country wants new blood not the same old thing and no, four more years of Baby Bush.
McCain’s stunt he failed pulling off last week and the wind up doll he has for vp is taking him down down down
You all can spin it anyway you want to but McCain has ran out of juice. And I saw CNN and I dispute what you say. The commentators were very complimentary to OBAMA
September 27th, 2008 at 4:08 pm
This has nothing to do with the debates, but finally someone is saying speaking up about the Missouri tactics to silence Obama’s critics, read it and cheer Gov. Blunt:
http://governor.mo.gov/cgi-bin/coranto/viewnews.cgi?id=EkkkVFulkpOzXqGMaj&style=Default+News+Style&tmpl=newsitem
September 27th, 2008 at 5:08 pm
LeeJ
Who is spinning. I said that Obama will be president. You get the government you deserve.
September 27th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
Leej, your post is a little misleading.. these polls do not reflect the results of the debate.
The Gallup poll :
Rasmussen :
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/daily_presidential_tracking_poll
September 27th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
You all are correct the polls do not reflect the debate. We will get a very early indication tomorrow. But it does reflect the poor performance of Palin and the non existent performance of Palin. Where was Plain last night ???? Biden was doing interviews on many of the shows after the debate. Two things are reflected in the polls one the public did not buy McCains stunt to solve the economic crisis by suspending his campaign and going to Washington, as a matter of fact many told him to go home even from his own party. Second Palin is self destructing before our eyes by saying nothing. And that interview with Katy was awful. Especially when she said she would get back with the answers. Well we are waiting for the answers Palin. Perhaps we will get them at the debate when that will be the last time we hopefully hear from her. Come on folks this wind up doll is way out of her league. McCain looks like old school you know where the old rockers bring in young faces to play guitar and look good but are nothing more then window dressing (PALIn??) and Obama is new school. He doe not need stunts and gimicks.
September 27th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Oh by the way I am not a Democrat. I am a Independent these days and have not seen many republicans I can vote for since the wonderful Regan years including our own county. The republican party is over and we live in a much different world then the Regan years with communications instant. What a dumb statement by McCain last night when he responded to Obama that we do not tell the world when we invade such as Pakistan. Whether we should or not McCain just sounded silly with that answer. It was like he was lecturing not debating.
September 27th, 2008 at 9:39 pm
I like to think we are ALL “independents,” Leej, and that the parties are dependent on us. However, the modus operandi of the Democrat party is to make people dependent upon the Party.
September 27th, 2008 at 9:43 pm
jacob, i wished i shared your belief that obama is going to win. i’m still thinking mccain, it will be very, very tough for obama to win penn, ohio, or virginia. florida is pretty much out. without at least one, it is nearly impossible for him.
September 27th, 2008 at 11:16 pm
LeeJ,
Both parties are shadows of their formers selves relative to the 70’s. Where is the Democrat Moynahan, or Nunn, or the Republican Rudman, or Goldwater. Face it, Reid is a sad joke of a man, let alone a Senator. In the house, for both parties, it is even worse.
In the 70’s I am sure both Parties already were in a state of decline. There are no more great men in politics. There reasons are legion.
September 28th, 2008 at 11:42 am
The Gallup poll said today Obama was the clear winner in the debates 46 Obama 34 McCain
http://www.gallup.com/poll/110779/Debate-Watchers-Give-Obama-Edge-Over-McCain.aspx
Not looking good for McCain, and Palin will most likely put the nails in the coffin for McCain after the VP debate. Independents are not moving to Obama. I always said Palin was just a very bad novelty that the public is getting tired of very quickly the more she stays silents she loses, the more she talks she loses she is taking McCain down every single day. The best thing that could happen to McCain is she gets some illness before the debate and is replaced.
September 28th, 2008 at 11:44 am
I meant independents ARE moving toward Obama above.
September 28th, 2008 at 7:35 pm
Yes, Leej, and those “independents” may regret it the rest of their lives.
September 28th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
One of the biggest disappointments was O’Bama’s mention of Kissinger. The proper response was, “Dr. Kissinger was speaking of lower-level discussion, you said that as President YOU would meet with Ikhma-bobble-head. Aside from your misrepresentation of what Dr. Kissinger said, do you agree with all of your advisers? Do you advisers, or yes-men?”