Bush seen as better in two post-debate polls, two split

By Will Lester, Associated Press, 10/12/00

WASHINGTON -- George W. Bush and Al Gore were judged to be very close in their debate performances Wednesday night in two network polls, while Bush was judged to have performed better in two others.

The two polls that judged Bush highest came from samples that already favored him by 10 points before the debate, though most national surveys have shown the race is very close.

The two men's performances were favored about evenly in NBC News and CBS News instant polls, while Bush had the advantage in CNN-USA Today-Gallup and ABC News polls. Both the latter polls indicated that before the debate Bush had a 10-point lead, 52-42, in the samples that were asked about the debate performance.

In head-to-head matchups before the debate, the CBS sample had the race close while the NBC News sample showed a 5-point Bush advantage.

Democrat Gore won the battle of the snap polls after the first debate Oct. 3, but slipped in public opinion by the weekend after attention focused on his aggressive behavior and audible sighs.

Republican Bush was seen as the winner of the second debate Wednesday night, by 46 percent to 30 percent, in an ABC News snap poll. Bush was viewed as having done the better job, a slightly different question, 49 percent to 36 percent, in the CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll.

NBC News used the same "better job" formulation and found 40 percent thought Bush did a better job to 37 percent for Gore.

In a CBS News poll, 51 percent thought Bush won, while 48 percent thought Gore won. The error margins for the polls ranged from 4 to 5 percentage points.

Few in the ABC News poll indicated the debate had changed their support in the race.

Gore toned down his performance, while Bush tried to show he had done his homework on the foreign policy questions that dominated the first half of the 90-minute debate. In fact, Gore and Bush were seen as equally capable of handling an international crisis in the CBS News poll, with just over half saying they were confident that each of the candidates could handle such a situation.

The CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll said Bush was more likable, more believable and agreed with them more on the issues, but more said Gore expressed himself better.

Instant polls after a debate can give an initial reaction or a first impression of debate watchers, but don't tell the whole story.

Impressions of a debate often take time to settle in after people talk with friends and family and read or hear news accounts of the debate. In the first debate, an equal number said Gore and Bush seemed presidential. By holding his own against Gore then, the Republican nominee was able to further the argument that he could be a credible alternative to the Democrat.

In 1980, Ronald Reagan accomplished a great deal in his debate with President Carter by reassuring voters that he was a likable and reasonable alternative to the incumbent. The debate came close enough to the election that Carter never had time to change that shift in opinion.