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Washington: President Barack Obama is still ahead in national polls even as critics
across media and snap polls declared Republican challenger Mitt
Romney the winner in their first presidential debate.
In the first of the three debates Wednesday in Denver, Colorado,
ahead of the Nov 6 poll, commentators suggested Romney's
performance was energetic and poised while the president seemed
subdued and occasionally testy.
Several noted that Obama did not mention Romney-founded Bain
Capital exporting jobs to India and China nor his rival's
controversial quote that "47 percent" of Americans were "moochers"
even once, according to a compilation by the Political Bulletin, a
news aggregating site.
Though neither candidate was seen delivering a knockout blow, many
agree with CNN that Romney "dominated" the debate, it said citing
a CNN survey which found 67 percent of viewers calling Romney the
winner, the highest by any candidate since 1984.
Meanwhile, a CBS poll showed 46 percent calling Romney the winner
to Obama's 22 percent.
Immediate television reaction too favoured Romney with NBC calling
Romney "energetic", "aggressive" and "crisp". Obama, on the other
hand, appeared "listless and flat and uninspired", as ABC put it.
Romney "took the offensive ... forcing President Obama to defend
his record in a series of sharp exchanges," wrote the Washington
Post while Obama "appeared on the defensive at times over his
record".
"If Mr. Romney's goal was to show that he could project equal
stature to the president, he succeeded, perhaps offering his
campaign the lift that Republicans have been seeking," said the
influential New York Times.
USA Today said the president "sometimes seemed annoyed and
defensive" while Romney "was energetic, focused and relentlessly
on message".
Meanwhile, an average of recent polling on the presidential race
by a top political analytical site, 'The RealClearPolitics',
showed Obama ahead 48.9 percent to Romney's 45.4 percent.
RCP's electoral map shows the Obama/Biden ticket leading in states
totalling 265 electoral votes, just five short of the 270 required
for victory in the 538-member Electoral College. Romney/Ryan
ticket had 191 votes while 82 were too close to call.
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)
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