US Vice-President Joe Biden put up a strong spirited performance today during his only face-to-face debate with Paul Ryan, but could not stop his Republican challenger from emerging the winner according to snap polls immediately after the 90-minute fierce debate.
69-year-old Biden and 42-year-old Ryan clashed sharply on a range of issues ranging from economy, health care to foreign policy on Libya, Syria, West Asia, Afghanistan and Iran on a combative evening at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky.
According to CNN, while 48 per cent of the registered voters watching the prime-time debate said Ryan won as against Biden’s 44 per cent. The poll, according to the channel, has a sampling error of five per cent, thus a tie between the two.
Another snap poll by CNBC said that 56 per cent thought Ryan has won the debate while 36 per cent thought the same for Biden. But a CBS News poll of uncommitted voters gives Biden 50 per cent edge to Ryan’s 31 per cent.
Passionate and firm, Biden was on a mission to reverse Republican challenger Mitt Romney’s polling surge, following his clear victory over President Obama in their first debate in Denver ahead of the November 6 presidential election.
Impressed by the strong performance of Biden, Obama, who watched the debate live on Air Force One, said that his Vice-President performed terrific during the debate.
“I thought Joe Biden was terrific tonight. I could not be prouder of him. I thought he made a very strong case. I really think that his passion for making sure that the economy grows for the middle-class came through. So I’m very proud of him,” Obama told presspersons in Miami.
Obama said he spoke with Biden immediately after the debate injected a new enthusiasm among the Democrats and the Obama Campaign.
“Vice-President Biden won tonight’s debate. In a clash between facts and conviction on one side and glib lines and empty promises on the other, tonight’s debate exposed the extreme risk that Romney-Ryan economics pose for the American middle-class and to our leadership in the world,” proclaimed Jim Messina, the Obama Campaign manager.