Debate, Poll | featured news

Voters say that President Barack Obama performed better than Republican rival Mitt Romney by a substantial margin in their second debate, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday. Forty-eight percent of registered voters gave the victory to Obama, while 33 percent say Romney prevailed in the Tuesday debate, the online poll found.

After a poor performance in the first presidential debate two weeks ago, President Barack Obama came back strong in the second one, winning perceived victories over Mitt Romney in two instant-reaction polls -- one of debate-watching registered voters, the other of debate-watchers who went into the debate uncommitted to either candidate.

Vice President Joe Biden came out on top of Thursday night’s vice presidential debate with Republican challenger Paul Ryan, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll. The energetic Biden claimed a seven-point victory – 42 percent to 35 percent – among registered voters, with a similar margin among independents. Nearly a quarter of registered voters and about a third of independents were unsure who did a better job during the debate at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky.

President Barack Obama's lead over challenger Mitt Romney has narrowed to just two percentage points since the Republican's strong performance in their first debate, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Friday.

Wednesday night's debate holds the potential to nudge the polling numbers in a race that has given President Barack Obama a narrow lead throughout 2012, but the chances of a debate that will turn the race upside down are slim. Voters are expressing strong interest in watching the debates. A poll by Quinnipiac found that 93 percent of likely voters planned to watch at least some of the debate.

Two new polls in the showdown state of Michigan suggest that Rick Santorum failed to gain a badly needed shot of momentum in Wednesday night's Republican presidential debate.

Republican Mitt Romney easily leads rival Michele Bachmann in a head-to-head matchup of the two top declared candidates for the party's 2012 presidential nomination, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday.