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Mitt Romney's solid debate performance last Wednesday night gives him the type of energy and momentum that President Barack Obama now will have to work overtime to undo. |
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羅姆尼上週三晚間優秀的辯論表現，為他賦予了高度的活力與氣勢，現在歐巴馬總統將必須加倍努力才能扭轉情勢。 |
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"The thing that this debate did is it gave people reasons to think about (a) President Romney," said John Geer, chairman of Vanderbilt University's political science department. |
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"This often happens with challengers in the first debate. |
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Now Obama needs to reconnect with the American public and (make the case for) why he should be reelected." |
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「這場辯論達到的效果，就是讓人有理由考慮羅姆當總統，」范德堡大學政治學系主任約翰．吉爾指出：「挑戰者在第一場辯論上常會有這樣的現象。這下子歐巴馬必須重新取得美國民眾的認同，為自己為何應該連任提出強而有力的理由。」 |
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According to a CNN post-debate poll, 67% of registered voters who watched said Romney won. |
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Only one in four scored it a win for Obama. |
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Prior to the debate, another CNN poll showed that 56% felt Obama would win. |
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What a difference a night makes. |
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根據 CNN 在辯論結束後所做的民調，百分之六十七的登記選民都認為羅姆尼贏得了辯論。只有四分之一的受訪者認為是歐巴馬獲勝。在辯論之前，CNN 另一項調查顯示百分之五十六都認為歐巴馬會贏。一夜帶來的影響何其大。 |
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However, experts say a poor performance in the initial presidential debate rarely shifts the direction of an election. |
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但專家指出，總統大選初次辯論表現不佳，極少會改變選舉方向。 |
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"Obama can afford to lose this one," said Melissa Wade, a debate professor at Emory University in Atlanta, adding that losing the first debate has the least impact on an incumbent president. |
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「歐巴馬禁得起輸掉這一場，」亞特蘭大埃默里大學的辯論教授梅莉莎．韋德說。她接著指出，輸掉第一場辯論對於現任總統的衝擊最小。 |
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Still, the stakes for Romney to pull off a good performance were high and, according to post-debate polls and commentators, he dominated the president. |
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Obama now faces the task of recovering from his debate stumble. |
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儘管如此，羅姆尼繳出優秀表現的利害關係很高；而且，根據辯論會後的民調結果與評論家的看法，他的表現勝過總統。現在，歐巴馬面臨的任務就是必須從這次辯論的失足表現當中恢復過來。 |
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"He was terrible last night and I don't understand why," Geer said. |
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"Obama didn't seem like he wanted to be there. |
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He needs to be much more aggressive. |
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He let Romney get away with stuff he shouldn't have." |
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「他昨晚表現得很差，我不瞭解為什麼，」吉爾說：「歐巴馬看起來一副心不在焉的模樣。他必須更有攻擊性。他讓羅姆尼閃避掉了他不該閃的地方。」 |
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"Romney gains a little bit of momentum. |
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The big question in this is whether or not he can sustain it," said Andra Gillespie, associate professor of political science at Emory. |
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「羅姆尼獲得了一些氣勢，但關鍵問題是他能不能維持下去，」埃默里大學政治學副教授安妲拉．吉勒斯皮說。 |
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Observers say there are already signs from inside the campaign that Team Obama is hard at work retooling its approach. |
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觀察家表示，目前選戰中已有跡象顯示歐巴馬的團隊正努力調整其做法。 |
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