John finds that “voters didn’t perceive Romney’s underlying ideology any differently after the debate,” and adds that “the lack of change is not surprising: a venerable finding in political science is that many people do not have a deep understanding of political ideologies in general or the specific positions that candidates take in elections.”
Indeed, prospective voters haven’t really perceived any Republican presidential candidate’s underlying ideology any differently since we started asking the question 40 years ago. Nixon, Ford, Reagan, Bush, Dole, Bush, McCain–it’s all the same to them. They did notice that McGovern was unusually liberal. (And panel studies in previous election years show them gradually associating new nominees with their parties, as has happened with Romney this year.)