Immediately following last night’s 3rd presidential debate between Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama, SurveyUSA interviewed 1,200 California adults, of whom 878 watched the debate. Of California debate watchers:
56% say Obama is the clear winner (vs 53% in 1st debate, 56% in 2nd debate).
28% say McCain is the clear winner (vs 30% in 1st debate, 26% in 2nd debate).
16% say there is no clear winner (vs 18% in 1st and 2nd debate).

The party breakdown is critical to understanding California, which is a ‘Blue’ state and, as expected, had significantly more Democrats watching the debate than Republicans. But as in previous post-debate polls by SurveyUSA, California Republicans were less enthusiastic about John McCain’s debate performance than California Democrats were about Barack Obama’s performance. 1 in 4 Republicans say Democrat Obama is the clear winner, compared to 1 in 10 Democrats who say Republican McCain is the clear winner. Independents, the most critical, coveted and arguably most dispassionate group of debate watchers, break 5:3 for Obama.

49% say McCain was too forceful, 19% say McCain was not forceful enough. 30% say McCain was “just right.”
14% say Obama was too forceful, 22% say Obama was not forceful enough. 61% say Obama was “just right.”

39% of California debate watchers say the candidates spent too much time attacking each other, 13% say the candidates spent too little time attacking each other. 45% thought the candidates spent the right amount of time was attacking each other.

California debate watchers by 5:1 say McCain was more angry, by 2:1 say Obama laid out a clearer vision for America’s future. Overwhelmingly, debate watchers say moderator Bob Schieffer was fair to both candidates. SurveyUSA state of California research conducted exclusively for KABC-TV Los Angeles, KPIX-TV San Francisco, KFSN-TV Fresno, and KGTV-TV San Diego.