Was it really a bounce? Or just two pollsters who were proven to be extremely wrong in the cycle - Rasmussen and Gallup - having some extreme volatility in their tracking polls?
If there was a bounce, what explains those voters going from Romney to Obama at the end? Or was the "bounce" just the case of some soft independents (read: Republicans) supporting Romney after previous declaring themselves undecided?
I am wondering if this 1st debate "bounce" was just a media narrative to make this a horse race. Convince me otherwise.
Actually, I think Rasmussen was one of the pollsters who didn't see much of a first-debate bounce. I seem to recall an article by Scott Rasmussen on their website to that effect at the time. And given that his polls are weighted by party ID, it's not surprising that a debate "bounce" of greater enthusiasm among Republicans didn't show up in his numbers.
OTOH, Pew showed an enormous debate bounce...
