The Presidential Debate of October 16, which took place at Hofstra University in New York, was conducted in town hall style - moderated by CNN's chief correspondent Candy Crawley.The pressure for the second debate was certain on both candidates: Mitt Romney to maintain his victorious position and President Obama to save face from his disastrous performance in Denver. As it goes the pressure slashed one candidate and uplifted the other.
An increasing number of polls are showing that viewers have named Obama winner of the second round.
The latest poll by Reuters in conjunction with IPSOS shows that 48 percent of the viewers' thought Obama won the debate, while 33 percent said Romney won.
Ipsos pollster Julia Clark told Reuters, "Clearly, the debate was a bit of a turnaround for Obama. He put in a much stronger performance than he did in the first debate and it's showing in the numbers."
The poll also shows that Obama's likability went up five percent after the debates, from 50 to 55 percent, while Romney's went down two, from 50 percent to 48 percent.
Clark concludes, "This was always going to be a very close election and that's back where we are now."
Other polls by CNN and CBS show similar results.
CNN:
According to a poll conducted by CNN, 46 percent of viewers said Obama won the debate, while 39 percent said Romney won the debate. The survey was conducted with 457 registered voters and a margin of error of 4.5 percent. Among those surveyed 33 percent were Republicans, and 33 percent were Democrats.
When asked whether they thought the candidates did better than expected, 73 percent said that Obama did better than expected, while 10 percent said he did worse; as for Romney, 37 percent said he did better than expected
CBS:
The CBS poll conducted with 525 uncommitted voters' show that 37 percent thought Obama won the debate, while 30 percent said Romney was the winner and then 33 percent said it was a tie. According to the poll Fifty-five percent thought Obama answered questions more directly and clearly than his opponent, while 49 percent said the same about Romney.
There was a four point margin of error for this survey. Among those surveyed, 56 percent were independents, 23 percent Democrats and 21 percent Republicans.
The last and final debate will take place as follows:
Monday, October 22
Who: Presidential Candidates Barrack Obama and Mitt Romney
Time: 9-10:30 pm Eastern Standard Time
Place: Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida
Topic: Foreign Policy
Moderator: Bob Schieffer, Host of Face the Nation on CBS
This will be the last of three debates between Obama and Romney before voters head to cast their ballots on November 6. The two candidates will talk about domestic policy. The debate will be divided into six 15-minute segments, in which Schieffer will chose questions from a topic of his choice. Each candidate will be given two minutes to answer.
