Community Corner

Who Won the Second Presidential Debate 2012? University of Iowa Students Cheer on Obama

Hundreds of University students, who could play a crucial role in the Nov. 6 election between President Obama and Mitt Romney, packed into the Bijou Theater on the UI campus to watch the Oct. 16 debate.

More than 300 University of Iowa students packed into two halls in the Memorial Union to see the second debate between President Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney, with the majority of them cheering on Obama and jeering his Republican challenger.

The debate watch party was hosted by the University of Iowa Student Government and Patch, and the crowd was so large at the scheduled Bijou Theatre that an overflow room was set up elsewhere in the building.

In many ways it appeared the debate watchers were there to support their candidate more than to make up their minds on the topics discussed, which ranged from gas prices to tax policies to immigration and who wanted to save the auto industry and who wanted to kill it.

The clearly partisan crowd snickered and groaned at many of Mitt Romney's responses throughout the night, particularly on his answers about women and his policy difference from President George W. Bush. In contrast, as Obama wrapped up his closing statement, many in the crowd applauded as they had done for several of his answers throughout the night.

A Democratic respondent in the crowd gave a post-debate response typical of comments from the crowd during the debate, declaring Obama the winner. Debate watchers filled out questionnaires passed out by Patch before the debate to indicate who they thought won.

Find out what's happening in Iowa Citywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"President Obama answered the questions more thoroughly than Romney. He offered plans where Romney replied with attacks and blaming."

Meanwhile, a Republican respondent replied that neither candidate won: "Neither won, as both candidates had no supporting evidence for their claims."

Find out what's happening in Iowa Citywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Kelsey Spitz, a sophomore at the University of Iowa who identified as a Republican, said she thought Obama won the debate, but that didn't appear to change her mind about the candidates.

"For me, it's simple. If I thought that Obama had brought positive change to the country I wouldn't hesitate to reelect him. But that's not the case," Spitz said. "This country needs an economic miracle, and I think that Romney's business experience puts him in a perfect position to bring positive change as economics go, and beyond."

Another University of Iowa student, a Democrat, was fairly blunt about why she felt President Obama won.

"Obama won because he seemed like he knew what he was talking about more and didn't lie as much as Mitt," said Julie Crisman, 18, a University of Iowa freshman.

While another Republican respondent who declared Romney the winner was equally blunt.

"It was hard to decide the winner when a majority of the crap coming out of both candidate's mouths was saying how poor the views of the other is. If each of them only talked about their own plans a choice would be simple."

Of 44 respondents to Patch's unscientific poll (with most of the respondents identifying as Democrats), 30 declared Obama the winner, 5 declared Romney the winner, 4 declined to declare a winner, and 5 said neither candidate won (Tie).

UISG President Nicholas Pottebaum said the group decided to organize the watch party to get students of all ideologies and political affiliations more involved in voting. He said the goal was to create a ripple effect to raise the turnout of young voters.

"I think it's important for us to counteract that voter apathy among this age group, increasing the amount of students who vote, in any way we can," Pottebaum said.

Tuesday's debate was the second of three presidential debates hosted by the Commission on Presidential Debates. The debate was a town meeting format moderated by CNN's chief political correspondent and anchor of CNN's State of the Union, Candy Crowley, on the campus of Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY.

The debate’s first question was fitting for the crowd gathered in the University of Iowa student center. It came from Jeremy Epstein, a college student who will graduate soon and who asked Romney how he would ensure that he could get a job and pay off student loans.

“We have to make it easier for kids to afford college and once they graduate from college, to get a job,” Romney said, coming down off his stool in the town-hall setting of the debate. “What’s happened over the last four years has been very, very hard for America’s young people.”

The president said he wants to create manufacturing jobs like those in the auto industry that he helped preserve with a bailout. Romney opposed the federal money that kept the auto companies open through bankruptcy.

President Obama was far more energetic than in the first debate, which even Iowa’s influential Democrats agreed was a lackluster performance, and Romney interrupted the president and the moderator just as often as the first time around.

In Iowa, which factors as an important swing state in several scenarios of how each candidate can get to the required number of delegates to win election.


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