Leave a Comment

As for those all-important undecideds
Jonathan Martin's Blog — Via Amy Sullivan, I see there was a swing state gathering of fence-sitters: Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg ran a dial-group with 45 undecided voters in St. Louis during the debate, polling them before and after to judge how the event changed their reactions to Obama and McCain. The group was mostly middle-aged, split evenly among education and class lines, and was heavily comprised of Bush 2004 voters.  First things first, the group thought Obama "won" the debate (38 to 27%, with 36% saying that neither candidate walked away with a clear ...

Election Central Saturday Roundup
TPMDC — ... Time reports that a focus group run by Dem pollster Stan Greenberg found an interesting result for the debate: Voting decisions were not changed among undecided voters, but the perception of John McCain as a negative campaigner was strengthened immensely. Before the debate, McCain was seen as more negative by a seven-point margin, and then by a 26-point margin afterward -- and for his trouble, Barack Obama's numbers on readiness to be president actually increased. Thus, it appears that McCain's decision to go on the offensive in this debate only backfired. ...

Americans met angry John McCain last night
AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth — Angry John McCain showed up at the debate last night. It didn't sit well with undecided voters: McCain was seen as the more negative of the two—by 7 points before the debate and by 26 points after. The audience did not like it when he went after Obama for being "naïve" or used his oft-repeated "what Senator Obama doesn't understand" line. When the two clashed directly in the second half of the debate, with Obama repeatedly protesting McCain's characterization of his statements or positions, the voter dials went down. Voters appear to have judged McCain too negative ...

Saturday Reading: Chukotka
Ben Smith's Blog — Only 21% of households watched the debate on braodcast, though the cable numbers aren't in yet. There were a number of venial sins of fact in a remarkably deep, fair policy debate. People hear what they are primed to hear -- it's a remarkable illusion -- but Andrew Sullivan walks back the viral rumor of the day. A Greenberg focus group underscores the new Obama-won CW. Nate Silver seeks to explain it. Plouffe tries his hand at raising Palin debate expectations. (Good luck with that.) Ambinder ...

Yet more debate reaction
Daily Kos — Time: Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg ran a dial-group with 45 undecided voters in St. Louis during the debate, polling them before and after to judge how the event changed their reactions to Obama and McCain. The group was mostly middle-aged, split evenly among education and class lines, and was heavily comprised of Bush 2004 voters [...] Both candidates saw their net favorability ratings rise over the course of the evening. McCain started off with a 22-point net and gained 9 points. But Obama went from a 6-point net favorability to plus-45, a ...

So, McCain was an asshole, eh?
Blah3 Feed — ... Time's verdict - Asshole: McCain was seen as the more negative of the two—by 7 points before the debate and by 26 points after. The audience did not like it when he went after Obama for being "naïve" or used his oft-repeated "what Senator Obama doesn't understand" line. When the two clashed directly in the second half of the debate, with Obama repeatedly protesting McCain's characterization of his statements or positions, the voter dials went down. Voters appear to have judged McCain too negative in those encounters and Obama more favorably. ...

McCain Doesn't Understand that Condescension Backfires
Daily Kos — Via Time, which last night ran a focus group of undecided voters in Missouri who viewed the debate: The audience did not like it when he went after Obama for being "naïve" or used his oft-repeated "what Senator Obama doesn't understand" line. When the two clashed directly in the second half of the debate, with Obama repeatedly protesting McCain's characterization of his statements or positions, the voter dials went down. Voters appear to have judged McCain too negative in those encounters and Obama more favorably. So we weren't ...

They Liked Him, They Really Liked Him
Swampland — From TIME's Amy Sullivan: As he did for the first presidential debate, Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg gathered a group of undecided voters in a swing state (this time Colorado) to watch the town hall, polling them before and after to gauge how their reactions to the presidential candidates changed. The audience of 50 voters was slightly more female (58%), mostly middle-aged, dominated by former Bush voters, and split evenly along partisan lines. ...