First, there was the CBS instant poll taken immediately following Wednesday night’s Presidential debate. The poll was a “scientifically representative” sample of uncommitted voters that showed Romney cruising to an overwhelming victory by a margin of 2-1 over President Obama.
Then, there was the collective meltdown of the MSNBC cable news network and other left-wing media outlets, which served only to confirm what many who watched the debate already knew: Romney absolutely clobbered President Obama.
Now, Legal Insurrection has obtained an infographic from TargetPoint Consulting, courtesy of Matthew Knee, which illustrates just how beneficial Wednesday night was for Mitt Romney.
The infographic represents an “all media debate sentiment analysis,” taking into account “the full swath of the information environment – from mainstream media sources to the blogosphere to public social media to all the diversity of the miscellaneous web.”
Consistent with general opinion, mentions of the phrase “Romney won,” substantially outperformed its counterpart, “Obama won,” in all categories of the media. The sheer amount of mentions affirming Romney’s victory across all media sources is enough to lead one to the conclusion that this debate had serious implications for both candidates, and that Romney was the clear beneficiary.
However, what appears to be the most telling measure as to what Wednesday’s debate meant is the Sentiment chart on the right hand side. (Click on photo for larger picture)
Even as the Obama campaign desperately attempts to portray Romney’s debate performance as that of bully, the talk surrounding the Republican nominee has seen a sharp increase in positivity.
The President, by contrast, looks to be still mired in negative talk, and has been unable to achieve any sort of bounce following the debate.
Is it possible that Romney is actually closing what heretofore has largely been considered an insurmountable likability gap between himself and the President?
As of now, it is still far to early to make any grand assumptions or proclamations. However, one thing is absolutely certain. By any measure of statistical significance, Wednesday night was a turning point for the Romney campaign.
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