Legal Commentary

Third Debate Buries McCain

By Big Tent Democrat

So says Democracy Corps, which focus grouped the debate:

John McCain entered tonight’s debate needing to halt Barack Obama’s momentum and fundamentally change the dynamic of the race.Not only did he fail to achieve this goal, McCain dug himself an even deeper hole.Undecided voters watching the debate felt McCain gave a decidedly un-presidential performance, appearing rude, negative, and easily flustered – a stark contrast to Barack Obama’s cool, commanding presence.Obama was seen as the clear victor in the debate, and a group that was much more disposed to support McCain at the outset instead shifted decisively toward Obama (42 to 20 percent) after viewing the debate.

Democracy Corps conducted dial and focus groups with 50 undecided voters in Denver, CO during and after tonight’s debate.Prior to the debate, these undecided voters had an unmistakable lean toward McCain, giving him strong personal marks (54 percent favorable, 34 percent unfavorable) while dividing evenly on Obama (42 percent favorable, 42 percent unfavorable). In fact, in the focus groups conducted after the debate, many of these voters explicitly said that they came into the evening wanting to vote for McCain. But the debate changed their outlook significantly. By a 50 to 24 percent margin, these voters said that Obama won the debate. More significantly, the debate moved their vote considerably, with 42 percent supporting Obama and 20 percent supporting McCain. This was the most decisive movement we saw toward Obama in any of the three debates.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

Full post as published by TalkLeft on October 16, 2008 (boomark / email).