Who Won the Debate? Students Buck Trend, Choose Obama Over Romney

For months, voters have been clamoring for a presidential race about issues rather than attack ads. On Wednesday evening, they got it.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama shared a stage at the University of Denver for an hour and-a-half in the first of three presidential debates. Prior to the debate, both campaigns made a point of lowering expectations, but most observers thought Romney got the better of the President in round one.

Being the challenger is usually thought to be a disadvantage, but one of the times it’s not is in a debate where the challenger can criticize the incumbent’s record. That’s precisely what Romney did, time and again faulting Obama for a sluggish economy, putting the president on the defensive. Trailing in the polls, it was the strategy Romney needed to take and most thought he executed it with aplomb.

Obama and Romney returned often to the larger themes of the campaign—government control versus privatization, states’ rights versus federal rights and which taxation policy could jump start the economy.

At the debate-watching event hosted by Patch at the Hollings Room inside the Thomas Cooper Library on the campus of the University of South Carolina, more than 100 students and non-students alike closely tracked the comments of both Obama and Romney, laughing at zingers by both men and applauding when they heard something that resonated with them.

Prior to the debate, Patch polled attendees on whom they planned on voting for and all but one of the voters was certain. Unsurprisingly, the most important issue was the economy and the sluggish recovery and job market. Among likely Romney voters, the deficit was the second-most important issue. Among likely Obama voters it was health care.

Attendees suggested that the best plan for Romney would be go on the attack, advice which he seemed to heed. For Obama, they suggested he talk about his accomplishments.

Most attendees, even Obama supporters, preferred Romney’s opening statement of the two and thought the former Massachusetts governor started out strong, benefiting from the lengthy discussion about economy. When the conversation changed to health care, most attendees thought Obama got the upper hand. As the debate moved to the role of government the advantage tilted back to Romney, even among Obama supporters.

Throughout the debate, respondents were asked to rate responses on a scale of 1-10 and very few gave out perfect scores, even for the candidate of their choice.

Interestingly, more than three-fourths of attendees—including some Romney supporters—thought Obama won the debate, a contrast from the sentiment nationally. That being said, three voters said they had changed their mind and decided to vote for Romney and the same number said they would now vote for the president.

Several respondents were frustrated by a lack of control by the debate’s moderator, Jim Lehrer of PBS. Lehrer could not have done too badly however, as one respondent confused him with Matt Lauer, one of the hosts of the Today Show on NBC.

Many felt the best line of the debate was when Romney declared his affection for Big Bird, shortly after saying he would cut government funding for Sesame Street. Big Bird subsequently became a popular topic on Twitter.

Others cited Obama’s response of “nevermind” to characterize how he believed Romney had changed his economic. Several more said they liked Obama’s reminder that “54-year-olds may want to pay attention” to Romney’s plans for Social Security.

The next debate will be in the “Town Hall” format and is on Oct. 16. The Vice-Presidential debate is on Oct. 11. Patch is planning events for the 16th so stay tuned.