Polls show Obama winner of U.S. presidential debate

A new poll suggests Wednesday that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama won the second U.S. presidential debate with Republican opponent John McCain Tuesday night in Nashville, Tenn.

Fifty-four percent of those questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey conducted after the debate ended said that Obama did the best job in the debate, with 30 percent saying John McCain performed better.

A majority, 54 percent, said Obama seemed to be the stronger leader during the debate, to 43 percent for McCain.

By a greater than two to one margin -- 65 percent to 28 percent-- viewers thought Obama was more likeable during the debate.

"Obama had made some gains on the leadership issue even before the debate," said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.

"McCain's advantage on leadership shrunk from 19 points in September to just five points this weekend. If Obama can use this debate to convince Americans that he is a stronger leader than McCain, he may be difficult to defeat."

A majority of debate watchers polled thought Obama was more intelligent, by a 57 percent to 25 percent margin over McCain.
Twice as many debate watchers also thought Obama more clearly expressed than McCain, with 60 percent giving the nod to the Democratic nominee and 30 percent to his GOP opponent.

美国有关机构８日发布的民调结果显示，电视观众认为民主党总统候选人奥巴马在７日晚辩论中的表现胜过共和党对手麦凯恩。这意味着奥巴马在今年大选总共３场总统候选人辩论中已取得“二连胜”。

美国有线电视新闻网在辩论后对电视观众进行的调查显示，５４％的人认为奥巴马胜出，３０％的人认为麦凯恩获胜。对奥巴马和麦凯恩持有好感的人分别为６４％和５１％。６５％的人认为奥巴马在辩论中显得更有亲和力，而认为麦凯恩有亲和力的人仅为２８％。

哥伦比亚广播公司对尚未拿定主意支持哪位候选人的选民进行的调查表明，认为奥巴马和麦凯恩获胜的人分别为４０％和２６％，另有３４％的人认为两人不分上下。

奥巴马和麦凯恩７日晚在田纳西州纳什维尔市贝尔蒙特大学举行第２场辩论，双方就经济、医疗保健、能源以及外交政策进行激烈交锋。此前两人在９月２６日举行了首场辩论，民调显示奥巴马获胜。最后一场辩论将于本月１５日举行。自美国发生金融风暴以来，奥巴马扩大了对麦凯恩的民调支持率优势。随着美国大选投票日的临近，双方加强了彼此攻击的力度。