Last presidential debate focuses on foreign policy
By Katherine Hafner
Oct. 23, 2012 1:14 a.m.
After a long day of classes, Sina Famenini sat down in Powell Library Monday night to watch a live stream of the final presidential debate on his laptop.
Taking a break from studying, the second-year molecular, cell and developmental biology student said he was looking forward to a stimulating debate between President Barack Obama and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
Famenini, who identifies as socially liberal and fiscally conservative, moved to the U.S. from Iran about nine years ago.
He has been following the debates since the first one on Oct. 3.
He said he wanted to hear a clear foreign policy vision from one of the candidates prior to the debate.
“As a student, the issue of student loans and education is very important, and as an immigrant originally from the Middle East, (foreign) relations issues are important to me too,” Famenini said.
Obama and Romney sat around a table at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla. Monday night ““ with moderator Bob Schieffer, host of “Face the Nation” on CBS ““ for their last formal faceoff before the Nov. 6 presidential election.
The debate was centered around foreign policy, and Schieffer started the night off by asking the candidates whether last month’s attack on the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi, Libya was an “intelligence or policy failure.”
The candidates discussed other prominent topics in foreign policy during the debate, including Iran’s pursuit of nuclear power, Al Qaeda’s leadership, the war in Afghanistan, the U.S.’s relationhip with China and the ongoing civil war in Syria.
The discussion also touched on domestic policy with regards to economic recovery in the U.S.
Primarily, Obama challenged what he said was a lack of specificity in Romney’s approaches to international relations.
Romney criticized the Obama administration’s foreign policies.
The last debate generally has less impact than the first, said Jeffrey Lewis, a professor and chair of the political science department at UCLA.
Joel Aberbach, another political science professor, said viewership of the debates typically declines toward the end of the debate series.
“And (last night) they (were) competing against two major sporting events also,” he said.
In general, debates do not usually have a direct impact on the way people vote, Lewis said.
A compilation of recent polls shows that Obama has a slight lead over Romney in winning both the popular and electoral votes, according to the New York Times.
But the race is still very close, Lewis said.
This year may be an example of a rare instance when debates affect the presidential election, he said.
Mark Petracca, professor of political science at UC Irvine, said Obama’s performance in this last debate may stop Romney’s momentum in key battleground states like Ohio and Colorado.
“I’m looking for specific actions that candidates say they’ll take,” Famenini said.
Famenini said he was not satisfied with either candidate at the end of Monday’s debate, though he thought Obama was the clear “winner.”
Closing his laptop before he left Powell library, Famenini said he is still seeking answers in an election that is now two weeks away.
“As a young voter, I feel like I’m picking between the lesser of two evils,” said Famenini, who intends to vote for Obama.
Email Hafner at [email protected].
