Photos: Hate, love, chaos and spin before and after Denver debate 2012

By Sam Levin Thu., Oct. 4 2012 at 11:23 AM

Categories: Photos, Politics, Things to Do

Continued from page 3

Meanwhile, supporters in the crowd -- braving the cold after the debate -- had mixed reactions.

Aaron Black, a prominent member of Occupy Wall Street in New York in attendance, said that he was shocked by how much it seemed Romney was flip-flopping on many issues. As we noted earlier, experts have also suggested that Romney's comments were much more centrist compared to the far-right politics he's previously espoused during the campaign.

"I've never seen somebody lie like that in front of the camera," he said, "just about his issues with not taxing the middle class and not being into trickle-down economics.... It was as if he just changed his plan within a week's time span.... He did a complete 180 on everything, except for getting rid of Obamacare. I just have a really hard time believing that he just changed his mind."

Still, he said, "I was surprised by how crisp Romney was."

Laura Burns, a graduate student and Obama supporter, said she was pretty disappointed with the whole debate.

Sam Levin

Laura Burns.

"I feel that both of them didn't really answer a lot of questions. We didn't get a lot of variety in what people were talking about," she said, noting that Obama was also not as aggressive as she wanted him to be.

Will that hurt him come Election Day?

"I don't know how much Americans really listen to the debates to make their decisions," she said.

Continue for more photos.