Community Corner

Who Won the Debate? Georgia Patch Poll Says it Was Romney

Patch polled Georgia elected officials and activists in both parties to find out who they felt won the debate between President Barack Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney.

 

A flash poll of influential members of Georgia’s GOP and Democratic parties found rare agreement on the question of who won Wednesday night’s presidential debate between President Barack Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney.

As a Democratic respondent put it, “Mitt is back in the race.”

Find out what's happening in Virginia Highland-Druid Hillswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Patch tapped our panels of Democrats and Republicans who hold office, are former elected officials, candidates or party activists for twin polls that were conducted in the first hour after the debate ended.

Patch received responses from 32 Republicans and 15 Democrats. The poll is not scientific.

Find out what's happening in Virginia Highland-Druid Hillswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Of the GOP respondents, 87.5 percent said Romney won “by a wide margin” and 12.5 percent said he won by “a slim margin.”

Democratic respondents were less emphatic about Romney’s performance, but they agreed with the basic message – Romney out-performed Obama in the debate.

Twenty percent of Democratic respondents said that Romney won by “a wide margin” and 40 percent saying it was by “a slim margin.” Just 20 percent of Democratic respondents said Obama won by “a wide margin” and 13 percent said Obama won by “a slim margin.”

Republican respondents also said they felt that the national media would agree that Romney won, with 62.5 percent agreeing with that statement by “a wide margin” or “a slim margin.” Democrats also said the national media would name Romney the winner, with 80 percent agreeing by “a wide margin” or “a slim margin.”

And 81.3 percent of Republican respondents agreed with the statement, “Mitt Romney’s Oct. 3 debate performance makes it even more likely that Georgia is a state that he can count on winning.”

Meanwhile, Democratic respondents did not feel that Obama improved his chances of making Georgia a competitive state in the 2012 presidential election, with 66.7 percent saying they somewhat or strongly disagreed that Obama’s performance made it more likely that he would win Georgia or at least make it a close race in the peach state.

Related links:

Review Wednesday night’s face-off between Obama and Romney:

Check out a previous poll of Patch influentials in Georgia:


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