NJ Insiders Split Along Party Lines After Final Debate

New Jersey political insiders gave their candidates the edge on the final presidential debate. However, most believe President Barack Obama will be the consensus winner over Mitt Romney among national media outlets.

According to a Patch flash poll sent to elected officials and political party insiders in New Jersey, 17 out of 19 Democrats responding believed Obama was the victor, while 16 out of 18 Republicans declared Romney the winner.

“Gov. Romney's executive capabilities were on full display,” one Republican insider said. “This will energize the voters and clearly demonstrated that he will return America to being viewed as being professionally run as a business and ALL Americans are its clients.”

Democrats were also impressed with their candidate.

“I think this performance was strong enough to give him a few more votes in OH and possibly put him over the top,” one Democratic insider said. 

The results of the flash poll saw political insiders stand more firmly along party lines than in the first two post-debate polls. In the first post-debate Patch poll, 100 percent of Republicans and 38 percent of Democrats believed Romney was the winner, with 70 percent of respondents agreeing that Romney would be declared the consensus winner among media outlets. After the second debate, 89 percent of Democrats declared Obama the winner and 83 percent of Republicans gave the win to Romney, with 70 percent of respondents believing the media consensus win among media outlets would go to Obama.

In Patch’s third debate poll, 78 percent thought the consensus win in the national media would be given to Obama.

Some Republican insiders were irked by Obama’s tone during the debate. One Republican said the moment that would stand out in the minds of swing voters from the foreign policy debate was “Obama's rudeness, sarcasm and disrespect towards his opponent.”

However, some Democrats believed Romney failed to show himself a strong leader on foreign policy issues. One Democrat said the moment that would stand out to swing voters was “Mitt Romney agreeing several times that Pres. Obama is right on foreign policy.” Another Democrat said what would stand out from the debate among liberals and progressives was “Romney's simplistic understanding of foreign policy, i.e. ‘we have fewer ships today.’”

Want to weigh in yourself on who won? Vote in our poll.

Patch Red and Blue Garden State surveys were sent to 190 Democrats and 145 Republicans. If you are an elected official or party leader and would like to be included in future surveys, contact Associate Regional Editor Jacklyn Corley at jacklyn.corley@patch.com or Regional Editor Mike Pignataro at mike@patch.com.