From the Pew Research Center:
Six-in-ten voters say they watched at least a little of last Thursday night’s vice-presidential debate between Joe Biden and Paul Ryan at Centre College in Danville, KY. Among debate watchers, as many say Biden did the better job (47%) as say Ryan (46%). …
Republican voters overwhelmingly say Ryan did the better job in the debate (88%); a comparable percentage of Democrats (89%) say Biden did the better job. Among independents, 50% say Ryan did better, 39% say Biden.
I’m surprised by this, after how well Mitt Romney did in the last debate, but more voters think that President Obama, not Romney, will win tomorrow night’s debate:
On the eve of Tuesday night’s second presidential debate at Hofstra University, voters are divided as to which candidate they think will do the better job: 41% say Obama will do better, while 37% expect Romney to prevail. This stands in stark contrast to expectations prior to the first presidential debate two weeks ago, which voters expected Obama to win by a 51%-29% margin.
That’s just as well as far as Romney’s concerned: lower expectations will take some of the pressure off of him. And it’s better to surprise a voter by being good than the reverse.