Obama viewed as winner of second presidential debate: poll

 Obama viewed as winner of second presidential debate: poll

WASHINGTON, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama was viewed by more Americans who watched the second presidential debate of this election cycle as the winner of his second face-off with Republican challenger Mitt¹ Romney, according to a latest Gallup poll released on Friday.

The poll found that more Americans believed Obama did a better job than Romney, by 51 percent to 38 percent. The rating showed a sharp reversal from the first presidential debate for which Romney was regarded as a landslide² winner by 72 percent.

The second presidential debate took place in Hofstra University, New York state on October 16 night, in the form of a town hall meeting where a group of undecided voters from the local area were selected to take part in and pose their questions to the two candidates.

Romney's victory in the first debate was so decisive that even a plurality of Democrats³ regarded him as the winner. As for the second debate, Democrats overwhelmingly regarded Obama as the winner, by 88 percent to 4 percent. Republicans said their own party's nominee⁴ did better, by 78 percent to 9 percent. Independents gave the edge to Obama, 54 percent to 33 percent.

It is too early to tell what impact the second debate will have on voters, which may also be difficult to assess given that the third debate is taking place just six days after the second, said Jeffrey Jones of Gallup.

The Gallup poll, conducted October 17 to 18, showed 76 percent of Americans watched the debate, higher than the 66 percent who told Gallup in an October 4-5 poll that they watched the first presidential debate on October 3.

1 mitt   

n.棒球手套，拳击手套，无指手套；vt.铐住，握手

参考例句：

• I gave him a baseball mitt for his birthday.为祝贺他的生日，我送给他一只棒球手套。
• Tom squeezed a mitt and a glove into the bag.汤姆把棒球手套和手套都塞进袋子里。

2 landslide   

n.(竞选中)压倒多数的选票；一面倒的胜利

参考例句：

• Our candidate is predicated to win by a landslide.我们的候选人被预言将以绝对优势取胜。
• An electoral landslide put the Labour Party into power in 1945.1945年工党以压倒多数的胜利当选执政。

3 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 nominee   

n.被提名者；被任命者；被推荐者

参考例句：

• His nominee for vice president was elected only after a second ballot.他提名的副总统在两轮投票后才当选。
• Mr.Francisco is standing as the official nominee for the post of District Secretary.弗朗西斯科先生是行政书记职位的正式提名人。