HEMPSTEAD, NY (NEWS1130) – Political pundits are putting US President Barack Obama slightly ahead of Republican challenger Mitt Romney after the two faced off yesterday in the second presidential debate.

According to a CNN poll, the winner of the second of three debates was Obama; it found 46 per cent of voters believe Obama took this one by a slight margin.

“I think what we can safely say is that the president did well enough to blunt Romney’s momentum, and if you can blunt the momentum, that puts him in a better position to win,” explains CNN political analyst David Gurgen.

CNN’s Roland Martin notes body language was a very big deal.

“Mitt Romney turned his back to the audience and was trying to ‘get’ the president… the president pretty much looked at him, brushed him off, and walked away from him and kept on engaging the person who asked the question. That shows a difference in tactic in terms of what you’re come here to do,” says Roland.

“I would say, and all the early reaction suggests, that Barack Obama had the stronger night. Certainly, he had to have the stronger night and he performed,” says Maclean’s Magazine Washington, DC Bureau Chief Luiza Savage, who spoke live today on the News1130 Morning Show.

“That being said, it wasn’t the kind of knockout punch we saw in the first debate. Mitt Romney held his own, he was strong, he landed a lot of points but Barack Obama really woke up and came back in a way that his campaign really needed him to.”

But was it enough to swing momentum back in his favour after a lacklustre performance in the first US presidential debate?

“I honestly don’t know,” says Savage.

“What happened with the first debate is that there were people who had been for Romney but drifted away when he started to look ‘un-presidential’ and incompetent with some his verbal gaffes, the ’47 per cent’ comment. You had Republicans  saying the campaign needed a reboot, he was starting to look like a loser. But suddenly, he has a strong debate performance and people say he looks presidential again, he makes good points, we can support him, and they drift back,” she explains.

“Now does one good debate by Obama send those people away from Romney again? I’m not sure that it does,” she adds. “It certainly energizes his supporters and perhaps wins over some people on the fence, but I can’t imagine it will have the same kind of impact as the first debate did in Romney’s behaviour.”

Savage expects a lot more on foreign policy and more tight, tough exchanges in the final US presidential debate Monday night.

During the first debate, Romney threw Big Bird into the spotlight, and also had social media spinning again during yesterday’s debate.

When responding to the question about women’s equality in the workplace, as he described the hiring process for his cabinet as governor, Romney, said: “I went to a number of women’s groups and said ‘Can you help us find folks?’ and they brought us whole binders full of women.”

Social media buzzing over debate

This set off a storm of tweets with the trending hashtag #bindersfullofwomen.

“Ann Romney is rifling through the house trying to find Mitt’s little black binders full of women while cursing under her breath,” read one Twitter post.

“Who knew that Romney was such a ladies man? It’s the Rom and the Fonz. Two peas in a pod,” read another.

There were just over 7 million tweets during the 90-minute debate.