Polls now clearly show that McCain lost the debate and failed with “suspension” stunt

September 28th, 2008 at 05:38pm Pat Cunningham

 

As I said HERE yesterday, the true winner of a presidential debate is not determined by political pundits or rabid partisans on the basis of substantive points. Rather, it’s decided by the public as a whole on whatever criteria they choose, from the serious to the silly.

I also warned against giving too much credence to the first two quickie polls conducted in the hours immediately after the debate (both of which, by the way, gave the nod to Barack Obama).

But we now have a NEW POLL from USA Today/Gallup showing that 46 percent of those who watched the debate thought Obama did a better job than John McCain, whose performance was preferred by 34 percent of respondents.

On top of that, four tracking polls released today SHOWED, when taken together, that Obama’s lead has widened since McCain launched his campaign-suspension stunt. The period covered by these polls include one day after the debate.

The utter failure of McCain’s suspension strategy was illustrated in a POLL CHART I posted here the other day.

So, when you put all this together and add the disastrous publicity of late concerning Sarah Palin (who’s been a big disappointment even to some conservative Republican observers), it can fairly be said that it was not a good week for the McCain-Palin ticket. Indeed not.

POSTSCRIPT: Pay no attention to any unscientific polls on the presidential debate (or on anything else, for that matter). In the world of professional polling, the word “unscientific” means the same as “worthless.”

UPDATE: Even one of McCain’s top surrogates, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, is conceding the obvious.

Graham said this morning on Fox News: “Sen. Obama helped himself, according to the polls. Quite frankly, I thought he presented himself well.”

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