The Times Poll: Voters Say Bush Won, 47%-26%

The immediate reaction of voters who watched Thursday night’s presidential debate was that Vice President George Bush emerged as the big winner, the Los Angeles Times Poll found.

The viewers scored it 47% for Bush, 26% for Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis and 27% a draw.

As might be expected, people who plan to vote for Bush on Nov. 8 thought, by a lopsided 20 to 1, that he won the debate. This general pattern was the same for Dukakis’ supporters, except that they were less enthusiastic about their candidate’s performance, scoring the debate for the Democrat by just 6 to 1.

The Times Poll, directed by I. A. Lewis, interviewed 522 registered voters who said they had watched the 90-minute televised debate. The nationwide telephone survey began as soon as the event ended and was concluded roughly two hours later. The margin of error is 5 percentage points in either direction. Continued polling by The Times could alter the figures somewhat.

A major goal of Dukakis in the debate was to show a more appealing human side--and not be the “iceman” that Bush had referred to in their first face-to-face confrontation last month. But viewers said Bush displayed a lot more “warmth” than Dukakis (by 3 to 1) and seemed more “likable” (5 to 2).

Bush’s aim, his advisers had said, was to avoid any major mistakes that could jeopardize his front-runner status. And Bush succeeded, at least in the eyes of the viewers, who seemed to think that neither candidate committed a “big blunder.”

Voters thought that Bush seemed, by far, the most “knowledgeable” (5 to 3) and “presidential” (2 to 1). They also thought overwhelmingly that the vice president showed that he would “do the best job” of managing foreign policy, handling defense, holding down taxes, controlling crime and “protecting traditional American values.”

Viewers also thought that Bush “gave more direct answers” to questions (3 to 2) and “was better at getting across his message” (4 to 3).

Bush struck a responsive chord when he mentioned President Reagan as one of his “heroes” and denounced Dukakis for once comparing the Reagan Administration to “a fish, rotting from the head down.” Of those interviewed, 63% said they “approve of the way Ronald Reagan is handling his job as President.” Only 33% disapproved.

Bush and Dukakis were rated about equally as the candidate who would “do the best job of reducing the federal budget deficit.” In the first debate voters concluded that Dukakis would do the best job of handling the deficit.

The voters’ confidence in a candidate’s ability to reduce the deficit is particularly significant because they regard this issue as “the most important,” by far, in the campaign. Among those surveyed, 63% chose the budget deficit as “most important” from a list of nine issues. Voters were allowed two choices, and distant runners-up were “peace,” 25%; drugs, 24%, and foreign trade, 19%.

After listening to the candidates, viewers thought that the Massachusetts governor “would do the best job of protecting the environment” (5 to 3). But only 15% of the voters considered the environment “the most important” issue.

The candidates were rated about equally on the question of who “responded best under pressure.”

Immediately after the first debate on Sept. 25, a similar Times Poll found voters scoring the confrontation as a virtual draw. But four days later, after having thought more about the debate and having looked at news accounts, people concluded that Dukakis probably had won, according to a subsequent Times survey.