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Post debate, Obama's lead grows

By ALEXANDER BURNS | 9/28/08 6:20 PM EDT  Text

Politico.com

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Barack Obama may have gotten a post-debate boost, despite some saying it was a tie. Photo: AP

Two days after a presidential debate many commentators scored as a tie, it's beginning to look like the public saw things differently, as several polls show a small but significant post-debate boost for Barack Obama.

A USA Today/Gallup poll released Sunday showed 46 percent of debate-watchers believed Obama outperformed John McCain, while.just 34 percent said McCain got the better of the exchange.

Thirty percent of debate-watchers said they had a more favorable opinion of Obama following the debate, compared with just 14 percent who said their opinion of him had worsened.

Respondents whose opinion of McCain changed as a result of the debate were evenly split, as 21 percent said their view of McCain had improved because of it and 21 percent said it had worsened.

The poll surveyed 701 adults who watched Friday's debate, and all interviews were conducted on Saturday.

Obama's numbers have ticked up nationally since the debate, the first of three scheduled this year, along with next Thursday's vice-presidential face-off.

In the Sunday update to Gallup's daily tracking poll, Obama widened his lead over McCain to 50-42 percent. Friday, in polling that preceded the debate, Obama had a five-point, 49-44 percent advantage.

Gallup's Sunday poll reflected polling from September 25-27, and included just one full day of interviews conducted following the debate in Oxford, Miss. If Obama's improvement does stem from his debate performance, his numbers could rise further over the next few days as the proportion of polling conducted after the debate increases.

Similarly, in the Rasmussen Reports automated tracking poll, Obama opened up a six-point, 50-44 percent, edge over McCain this weekend in both Saturday and Sunday's updates.

These numbers seem to match the results of snap polls taken after the conclusion of the debate, which showed Obama winning over more viewers than McCain.

A CNN poll conducted Friday night by Opinion Research Corp. gave Obama a thirteen-point advantage over his opponent, with 51 percent of viewers saying the Illinois senator won the debate and 57 percent saying he exceeded their expectations. Just 38 percent said McCain's performance was stronger, though 60 percent said he exceeded their expectations.

A Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll released Sunday gave Obama a narrower, 49-45 percent edge among debate-watchers, consistent with the lead he held in surveys prior to the debate.

But according to this poll, he scored very high on a question asking which candidate appeared more 'presidential,' besting McCain 46-33 percent.

In a CBS/Knowledge Networks poll conducted just after the debate, Obama led by a similar, fifteen-point margin, with 39 percent of respondents saying he won the debate, compared with only 24 percent who believed McCain came out on top.

And in a focus group conducted during the debate by Democracy Corps, a firm run by Democratic strategists Stan Greenberg and James Carville, Obama made inroads among undecided voters.

Thirty-eight percent of these voters believed Obama won the debate, with 27 percent handing the win to McCain.

And among these focus group participants, two-thirds of whom voted for President George W. Bush in the 2004 election, Obama improved his favorability rating from 40 percent to 69 percent.

While such instant surveys can be unreliable, this weekend's USA/Today Gallup survey and tracking polls fall in line with their results.

In a Sunday appearance on Fox News Channel, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of McCain's most fervent supporters, defended McCain's debate performance but acknowledged Obama's improved standing.

"Sen. Obama helped himself, according to the polls," Graham told anchor Chris Wallace, "Quite frankly, I thought he presented himself well."