The battle for independents

The battle for independents

Within hours of Friday’s debate, Ohio Governor Ted Strickland, a Democrat, and Mary Taylor, Ohio’s Republican auditor and co-chair of McCain Ohio, each issued a statement declaring that his or her candidate had won the first presidential debate.

Nothing Barack Obama or John McCain said Friday night was going to change the minds of Strickland or Taylor. But consider this: Early polls suggest that almost nothing McCain or Obama said changed the minds of most Democrats or Republicans watching the debate.

HCD Research and the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion released poll results that showed self-reported Republicans and Democrats were overwhelmingly impressed by the performance of their own party’s candidate on almost any issue. The poll results can be viewed at HCD’s Web site, mediacurves.com.

To the extent that Republicans and Democrats are going to decide the election, additional debates may be academic. But the Mediacurves results did show movement among independents, and in a close election, they could be the king makers.

The early numbers from Friday’s debate showed independents were more impressed by Obama than McCain. But there are two more presidential debates scheduled, at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., on Oct. 7, and at Hofstra University at Hempstead, N.Y., on Oct. 15. And, of course, there is the debate between vice presidential candidates Sen. Joe Biden and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin Thursday at Washington University in St. Louis. It may prove to be the most watched vice presidential debate in history.

The debate formats may not be perfect, and 70 percent of the people watching may have their minds made up, but these face-to-face meetings between the candidates are an important part of our political process. Tune in — even if you think you already know everything you need to know about “your” candidate. You could get a surprise.