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DEBATE IMPRESSIONS….From the latest Pew poll, John McCain doesn’t seem to have done well in the first debate. The good news for both candidates is that the top impression they left was a positive one: 50 respondees thought Obama was “confident” and 61 thought McCain was “experienced.” The bad news for McCain is that noticeable minorities also thought he was old, condescending, aggressive, and angry. Obama, by contrast, left audiences with only two negative impressions.

Easy come, easy go. That’s the price you pay for acting like a jerk, I guess. In other Pew news, Obama’s stock has gone up almost across the board. Not only does he lead McCain in their general election polling by seven points, but he’s improved his standing in the areas of crisis judgment, personal qualifications, and handling the economy. McCain has dropped in all three areas.

UPDATE: The “Impressions” part of the Pew survey measured raw numbers, not percentages. I’ve corrected the text to reflect this.

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