TNI Bureau: A recent poll conducted by CNN says that the Republican nominee Mitt Romney has defeated President Barack Obama in the first presidential debate held in Denver Wednesday night. They showed that 67% of debate watchers believed that Romney won the showdown, while only 25% said Obama was the winner.

The two men, standing side-by-side for the first time after months of brutal campaign attacks hurled at each other, clashed over taxes, healthcare and the role of government, reflecting the deep ideological divide in Washington.

Mr Romney has promised to balance the budget in eight years to 10 years, but he hasn’t offered a complete plan. Instead, he has promised a set of principles, some of which – like increasing Pentagon spending and restoring more than $700 billion in cuts that Democrats made in Medicare over the coming decade – work against his goal. He also has said he will not consider tax increases.

President Obama’s claim that Mr Romney wants to cut taxes by $5 trillion does not add up. Presumably, President Obama was talking about the effect of Mr Romney’s tax plan over 10 years, which is common in Washington.

Mr Romney proposes to reduce income tax rates by 20 per cent and eliminate the estate tax and the alternative minimum tax. The Tax Policy Center, a Washington research group, says that would reduce federal tax revenues by $465 billion in 2015, which would add up to about $5 trillion over 10 years.

Moreover, 60% of the audience said that Obama did worse than expected, compared to 82% that said Romney performed better than expected.

According to CNN Polling Director Keating Holland, “No Presidential candidate has topped 60% poll over the question of winning  candidate since it was first asked in 1984.”