By Andrew Hucks |Staff Writer|

President Barack Obama faced off against GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Oct. 3 in the first installment of three scheduled debates.
According to the Gallup.com polls, Romney scored a major victory over the President with 72 percent of the total viewers giving the presidential hopeful the victory, while President Obama only took 20 percent of the vote.
Even among self proclaimed Democrats, Mitt Romney still edged out the President by 49 percent to 39 percent. Gallop claims that the 52 point victory for Romney is the largest ever recorded, though these assessments were taken on Oct. 4-5 and could be influenced by the media coverage, most of which gave Romney a decisive victory.
The debates didn’t quite propel the Romney campaign into the lead for the presidency, but according to Gallop.com it put him and President Obama dead even in the Registered Voter’s Presidential Preference Poll, with each candidate receiving 47 percent post debate, a jump of almost 5 points for Romney.
Many agreed that Mitt Romney was undoubtedly the more animated debater while Obama was a bit more subdued than viewers were used to seeing him.
“[Romney] just came out swinging and seemed more prepared to debate than Obama,” said one CSUSB student. “Obama just seemed to be caught on his heels.”
Debate viewer James Lewis felt as though, “Romney ducked certain critical issues and his own record and that threw President Obama off because its hard to debate when both sides don’t adhere to the same facts.”
@ByronTau tweeted, “Mitt Romney lied. He lied on taxes. On medicare. On wall street reform. On Obamacare.”
The main topics of debate were on the job market and health care, two very crucial subjects being answered in different ways.

Obama defended his position on the Affordable Care Act or “Obamacare” while Mitt Romney pointed out that states could more efficiently provide to their citizens than the federal government could.
“I would like to take the Medicaid dollars and give them to the states and say to the states, you are getting what you got last year plus inflation, plus 1 percent, and you’re going to manage the care for your poor the way you think is best,” said Romney.
The topic of job creation and economic growth was talked about at great lengths by both parties.
Mitt Romney talked about tax-cuts to small businesses and on the middle class saying, “Middle-income earners have seen yearly earnings down $4,300 under President Barack Obama, this is a tax in and of itself, I call it the economy tax and its been crushing.” President Obama said that he would sign a one year extension on the Bush-Tax cuts that affect the people earning up to $250,000.
Regardless of certain views and opposition, there remains a decision and that decision will effect each and every American.
These debates may help individuals decide on their future leader.
It’s about how these men carry themselves, how quick they are with their reactions, and how well they can lead the American people. That’s what we as a nation need, a leader.
The next presidential debate are as followed: Thursday Oct. 11 covering foreign and domestic policy, Tuesday Oct. 16 the candidates will go over town meeting format including foreign and domestic policy, and lastly Monday Oct. 22 will be regarding foreign policy again.