U.S. President Barack Obama was
viewed by more Americans who watched the second presidential debate
of this election cycle as the winner of his second face-off with
Republican challenger Mitt Romney, according to a latest Gallup poll
released on Friday.
The poll found that more Americans believed Obama did a better
job than Romney, by 51 percent to 38 percent. The rating showed a
sharp reversal from the first presidential debate for which Romney
was regarded as a landslide winner by 72 percent.
The second presidential debate took place in Hofstra University,
New York state on October 16 night, in the form of a town hall
meeting where a group of undecided voters from the local area were
selected to take part in and pose their questions to the two
candidates.
Romney's victory in the first debate was so decisive that even a
plurality of Democrats regarded him as the winner. As for the second
debate, Democrats overwhelmingly regarded Obama as the winner, by 88
percent to 4 percent. Republicans said their own party's nominee did
better, by 78 percent to 9 percent. Independents gave the edge to
Obama, 54 percent to 33 percent.
It is too early to tell what impact the second debate will have
on voters, which may also be difficult to assess given that the
third debate is taking place just six days after the second, said
Jeffrey Jones of Gallup.
The Gallup poll, conducted October 17 to 18, showed 76 percent of
Americans watched the debate, higher than the 66 percent who told
Gallup in an October 4-5 poll that they watched the first
presidential debate on October 3.
