Another Thought on Last Night’s Debate [Updated]

One thing we can infer from both the strategies and the demeanors adopted by Romney and Obama last might: the candidates’ pollsters are telling them the same thing. Romney is winning.

Obama was like a fighter who comes out for the last round having been told by his corner, “You can’t win on points. You have to go for a knockout.” Romney was like a fighter who has been told, “You’re winning the fight. Just don’t walk into a lucky punch.” This is significant because the best polling, in general, is the polling done by campaigns. They spend a lot of money, and they don’t pay for spin. They need to know what is really happening in the minds of voters so they can adjust their strategies and allocate their resources to best advantage. And after last night, I don’t think there is much doubt that the campaigns’ pollsters are giving their candidates the same message: Obama is in trouble.

UPDATE: This morning’s Rasmussen Reports has Romney up by five points in the swing states, 50%-45% and four points overall, 50%-46%. I suspect this is consistent with what the two campaigns are seeing.

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