Voters Voice Expectations for Presidential Debate
By: Vanessa Herring
Updated: October 4, 2012
Students at the University of Rochester are excited for the candidates to take the stage in Denver for Thursday night's debate. They say, the devil is in the details.
According to a new Quinnipiac University poll, expectations for President Obama are high.
54% of likely voters say he'll win the debate, which could actually hurt him. That's because the bar is set low for republican challenger Mitt Romney, and that could make it easier for him to change voter's minds.
The candidates are expected to focus exclusively on three domestic issues during the 90 minute debate, the economy, health care, and the national debt.
Democratic U of R student Andrew Cutillo says, "we hope that we hear a lot of specifics tonight too, we're really looking forward to the discussion about actually policies as opposed to just the rhetoric, and we know that President Obama will deliver." Republican U of R student Jason Russell adds, "I think Mitt Romney's going to talk about the economy of course," says Russell, "Obama's plan is not great where Mitt Romney has a plan to create 12 million jobs, so I think he's going to tout that and get down to the specifics of that plan."
According to the Quinnipiac poll 93% of likely voters say they're going to watch the debate Wednesday night. However, 86% say they already have their minds made up. So the candidates, tonight, are targeting a few voters who could make a big difference in the presidential election.
