Obama Wins Big in Debate #2

FOX News focus group: Obama

CNN focus group: Obama

CNN Poll:

Who won the debate?
Obama: 54%
McCain: 30%

CBS Poll: Uncommitted Voters Say Obama Won Debate

Who won the debate?
Obama: 39%
McCain: 27%

CBS News and Knowledge Networks have, once again, conducted a nationally representative poll of uncommitted voters to get their immediate reaction to tonight's presidential debate.

And this new poll has good news for the Democratic ticket: Just as in the first presidential debate and the vice presidential face off, more uncommitted voters say the Democratic candidate won the debate.

9 percent of the uncommitted voters surveyed identified Barack Obama as tonight's winner; 27 percent said John McCain won, while 35 percent saw the debate as a draw.

After the debate, 68 percent of uncommitted voters said that they think Obama will make the right decisions on the economy, compared to 54 percent who said that before the debate. Fewer thought McCain would do so – 49 percent after the debate, and 41 percent before.

Before the debate, 60 percent thought Obama understands voters’ needs and problems; that rose to 80 percent after the debate. For McCain, 35 percent felt he understands voters’ needs before the debate, and 46 percent thought so afterwards.

Before the debate, 42 percent thought Obama was prepared for the job of president. That percentage rose to 57 percent after the debate. For McCain, 80 percent felt he was prepared for the job before the debate, and 84 percent thought so afterwards.

We will have a full report on the poll later on. Uncommitted voters are those who don't yet know who they will vote for, or who have chosen a candidate but may still change their minds.

TIME: Mark Halperin’s grades:
Obama: B+
McCain: B

NBC (Shrum) 9:43 PM: "I think he won a win tonight, Barack Obama. Because I think the big headline of this debate is that people across the country more and more comfortable with the idea of President Obama. He projects a sense of calmness and strength that kind of grace under pressure that people prize in a president."

MSNBC (Fineman) 11:10 PM: "Another good moment for Obama was when Obama basically took control of the foreign policy debate toward the end there."

FOX News (Luntz)10:43 PM: “We seem to be getting winners out of this. Obama did better overall."

CNN (Hillary Rosen): I am fixated on the dial line at the bottom of the screen on CNN. Women are responding very enthusiastically to Obama. And women have been the larger part of the undecided vote in the battleground states. They like his specificity on tax cuts, the budget, education and energy. And now the environment has just sent both men and women to the top line. McCain only gets to the top line with either men or women when he is positive. Each time he criticizes Obama, the line flattens.

Washington Post (Eugene Robinson): I think most viewers will decide that Obama won the debate, if only because he seemed more presidential and he represents a party other than George W. Bush’s. These encounters, I believe, are fundamentally unkind to John McCain.

Talking Points Memo: “Clear, even decisive win for Obama tonight.” The debate's relatively low-key tone, combined with a series of exchanges that Obama won by at minimum a marginal amount, translate into a clear, even decisive win for Obama tonight. There's no point in mincing words: Time is running out for McCain. As multiple observers have pointed out, McCain needed to jar the electorate into seeing this race in a new way. It isn't even clear if McCain even tried to do this tonight -- there was no moment where he appeared to make an aggressive bid to take down Obama or grab the initiative.