Let us skip the discussion if debates really matter for a moment and focus instead on who won the debate.
The first point is that, just as regular people, columnists saw the debate through their partisan eyes. In general, Republicans found McCain to be brilliant and Democrats agreed that Obama won the debate handily. Below are a few news headlines [from Real Clear Politics]:
McCain Wins Substantive Debate - David Yepsen, Des Moines Register
Obama Wins Debate On Tactics and Strategies - Joe Klein, Time
The Mac is Back - Roger Simon, The Politco
Tie Goes to Obama - John Dickerson, Slate
McCain Won, But That’s Not Enough - Fred Barnes Weekly Standard
The second and probably more interesting point is that Obama did better among Republicans than McCain did among Democrats. Polling conducted in California by SurveyUSA shows that of Republicans, 56 percent thought that McCain won, 25 percent said Obama and 19 percent considered it a tie. As for Democrats, 72 percent said that Obama won, 13 percent thought McCain got it and 15 said that it was a tie. In other words, Obama did better than McCain because 1 in 4 of the Republicans answered that Obama won whereas 1 in 8 of the Democrats thought that McCain won.
Finally, also the group of uncommitted voters saw Obama as the winner. CBS asked a nationally representative sample “Who won the debate?” and 39 percent of them said that Obama won while 24 percent said McCain. 37 percent concluded that it was a tie.
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