Delving into the Debate: Looking Further at the CBS Poll

As I noted in my last entry, CBS has what it believes a very accurate polling process that follows undecided voters and their opinion of the debate. It was this poll that initially caused people to proclaim that Obama won the debate...but delving further in the poll it looks as if Obama may have won over voters while McCain lost people with his demeanor. Check out these numbers from the poll.

What we see in the poll is that when the undecided voters were asked what their presidential preference was pre-debate vs. post debate, Obama held a 36-34% advantage before the debate, while he held a 41-29% advantage following the debate.

Furthermore, it appears as if Obama made himself more of a known quantity. Only 44% of undecided voters thought Obama was prepared to be President pre-debate, while 53% said he was unprepared. Post-debate, 58% of these same undecided voters declared Obama was prepared to be President, compared to 40% that felt he was unprepared. John McCains numbers on the same question remained virtually the same.

Even more interesting, prior to the debate only 58% of undecided voters polled felt that Obama understood their problems (with 40% saying he did not). Following the debate, that number stood at 79% saying he understood and only 21% saying he did not. That is a net gain of 21%. McCain also saw a modest gain in this number, as his number grew by 5%.

Finally, it appears as if John McCain's cantankerous attitude made many of the undecided voters have a less favorable opinion of him following the debate. While 32% of undecided voters polled said they had a better opinion of John McCain, an astounding 21% said they had a worse opinion. For Barack Obama, 46% of these same undecided voters had a better opinion of him, while only 8% had a worse opinion of him. What was their qualm with McCain? According to the poll, it was that "he 'didn’t control himself well under pressure,' that he was 'angry and bad-tempered,' and that he 'talked too much about the past.'"

Apparently, this was a more resounding victory for Barack Obama than even I thought. As this story is relayed in the media, it is inevitable that people will start to have their opinion reflect what is being reported, and Obama will be considered by most to have won. All that is left is to see if the polls reflect this.