President Barrack Obama said Donald Trump is a "small business" at the first Presidential Debate Wednesday night while referring to certain tax-cut polices. "Donald Trump is a small business. Now, I know Donald Trump doesn't like to think of himself as small anything -- but that's how you define small businesses if you're getting business income," said the president, "Under Governor Romney's definition, there are a whole bunch of millionaires and billionaires who are small businesses."
It comes as a surprise that the very outspoken billionaire has not yet responded to the comments, probably because Trump is in Aberdeen, Scotland to sign an agreement for an 11-turbine wind project. Given the large amount of Aberdeen project alone, which BBC News reports is £230 million, it seems incredible that Trump is a "small business."
U.S. Small Business Administration categorizes any business with 500 employees or less as a small business. Trump owns multiple companies, according to CNN, many of these companies consist of less than 500 workers, and therefore Obama might be correct in referring to the host of "Celebrity Apprentice" as a small business.
However it is also important to note that the Trump Organization employs more than 22,000 people - so while it is unfair to say the term of "small business" was incorrect, let's just day it was, pun intended, debatable.
As to the rest of last night's debate, Obama has received bipartisan criticism for what the New York Times calls "delivering a flat, uninspired and defensive performance," Romney, surprisingly, received high praise for his performance at the debates. The New York Times describes his articulation as "energetic, aggressive and presidential during his first-ever general election debate."
It was not just the New York Times that deemed Romney the winner, but the assessment has been unanimous among the various media. Polls have also indicated that Romney performed better than Obama.
According to a poll conducted by Government Executive, among the 523 undecided voters surveyed 46 percent said Romney did a better job, while only 22 percent said the same for Obama. 32 percent of those surveyed said it was a tie.
In a poll by CBS of 430 undecided voters, 67 percent say Romney was a clear winner last night, while only 25 percent said Obama won the debate. The CBS poll also indicated that 50 percent of those surveyed said the debates changed their opinion of Romney, boosting is likability to 63 percent, which was a 30 percent jump to the number prior to the debate.
A poll by CNN showed a closer call between the two opponents, but never the less, Romney had was declared a winner by those surveyed. The CNN poll suggested that 48 percent said Romney was a stronger leader, while 37 percent said the same for Obama.
The next debate will take place on October 11, between the Vice Presidential candidates Paul Ryan and Joe Biden.
View the entire debate here.
