Romney Impresses Furman Crowd In First Presidential Debate

Mitt Romney's aggressiveness won over many students taking part in a presidential debate viewing party at Furman University Thursday.

The event — which was attended by students independent of any political affiliation, as well as members of the Furman College Democrats, Furman College Republicans and the Cicero Debate Society — provided 90 of the students with the opportunity to vote on a series of questions about each candidate's performance. 

A common theme among many respondents was Romney's aggressive, unyielding posture toward the president, who seemed to some a bit subdued. 

"It seems like Romney is attacking a lot more, while the president is avoiding the questions," said Brad Conway, an independent voter and one of the respondents. 

Another participant, Reagan Tyson, a freshman member of the Furman College Democrats, said she felt that while Romney was not bashful about making promises, he failed to provide the blueprint as to how he would fulfill those promises. 

It was Romney's unyielding rhetorical style that both impressed and bothered some of the students watching the debate.

Of those polled afterward, 35 percent of the students said they thought Romney's style and delivery was more effective, compared to only 21 percent who voted in favor of Obama. The rest thought the two candidates were equal. 

One student told communications professor Sean O'Rourke, who moderated a post-debate discussion, that she believed Romney's interrupting of the President and overall tone was inappropriate for a presidential debate, and violated etiquette for such an event. 

But 64 percent of the respondents believed Romney turned in the better performance of the two Wednesday, with many in the discussion saying Romney's "aggressive" stance gave him the advantage over Obama, who some said was too committed to being presidential instead of passionate. 

Romney and Obama tied among the students at 39 percent when it comes to who performed the best in the debate on the topic of health care, but one of the critical issues — the economy — fell in Romney's favor. 

Romney won 41 percent of respondent's votes at the Furman event when it comes to who performed the best when it comes to the economy, compared to only 19 percent for Obama. The rest voted either that the candidates were equally good or equally bad in their arguments. 

O'Rourke, who said Furman has hosted similar events for the presidential debates of 2004 and 2008, along with the gubernatorial debates of 2010, agreed with many students' assessment that Romney seemed to have the upper hand for much of the debate. 

"In my view, Romney exceeded expectations," O'Rourke said. "The President is a good debater, but he needs a tune-up. Mitt Romney benefitted tremendously from the GOP primary debates." 

Still, there remains the question of whether or not debates like the one held Thursday can be a real game-changer, as 73 percent of respondents said nothing said during the debate had changed their minds as to who they would vote for.