Debate Divide: Debate Viewers Split on Winner

[skooooo]

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/Vote2004/second_debate_instapoll_041008.html

Oct. 9, 2004— The presidential contenders battled to a draw, with viewers of the second presidential debate in St. Louis divided, largely along partisan lines, on who won.


Among registered voters who watched Friday night's debate, 44 percent called John Kerry the winner, 41 percent said President Bush won and 13 percent called it a tie. That three-point difference between Kerry and Bush is within the poll's margin of sampling error.

About equal numbers of partisans tuned in — 35 percent of viewers were Democrats, 32 percent Republicans and 29 percent independents. And few minds were changed: Viewers divided by 50 percent to 47 percent between Kerry and Bush before the debate, and by an almost identical 50 percent to 48 percent after it.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Is it me or can yuio see the bias here

By the way if bush won it woudl be sold as a glorious victory

[Ruffhowse]

3. You got that right. If the poll results were reversed, they would be

crowing about how amazing a comeback Bush made, and there would be no mention of it being within the margin of error.

[LynnTheDem]

2. Party uber alles.

Now we know exactly how they let it happen.

[enki23]

9. not really. the nazis were a *new* party

the old partisans, on both sides, were the enemy. hitler was the quintessential "third way" candidate.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

4. where i come from 44 is more than 41

nt

[cpa]

6. Bush Is Terrible

That is on of the few polls where this is even close. The others had Kerry winning overwhelmingly. Louisville considers a three point loss a tie. That is why our country is not better off-because of citizens who think like that.

[mom cat]

7. Fuzzy math. I liked the way Kerry used that phrase last night.

[JuniorPlankton]

8. They are whores in other ways

BUT, IT IS a statistical tie. Your household measuring tape doesn't give a 0.01 inch precision. Similar idea here.

[truthisfreedom]

5. hey, i just noticed something. the repukes aren't tuning in. they are

scared. they don't want to watch bush lose... they don't want to lose their nerve.

think about it. if they don't tune in, they wont vote either.

[UCLA Dem]

11. Good point. I think you're on to something

[MADem]

12. I wish intelligent republicans

...(now, in New England, that is NOT an oxymoron, really--think Jim Jeffords and Linc Chaffee) would selectively tune in, though. All you had to do was see that hyperactive, hyper-aggressive performance, the shouting, the hectoring, the lame and inappropriate jokes, the Gibson lunge, the outright lies and sly misstatements, the forceful whining (a switch from the whimpering whining of the first debate) and you come to one conclusion--this guy is NOT QUALIFIED.

Weewee fed red meat to his dumbass base--someone told me, listening to CSPAN call ins, that all of the pro-weewee crowd sounded like uneducated buffoons, while all of the pro-JK callers sounded like they had benefited from a proper education.

It's true, I am seeing it whenever I encounter one of his supporters--if you are stupid, you like weewee the hard workin' and wimmen-lovin' cowboy.

[Philostopher]

14. John Stuart Mill

paraphrased, because it's late and I'm too lazy to go look up the exact quote, but he said something a lot like:

Not all conservatives I know are stupid, but all the stupid people I know are conservative.

When I read this, I had a small, Zenlike enlightenment -- it absolutely covered my observations all my life.

[Carolab]

15. stupid or close-minded?

I have been wrestling with this of late. I have met * supporters that I wouldn't exactly call stupid, but more accurately block-headed--unwilling to accept new evidence and change their positions in light of it--much like * himself. Also, it seems that they are always looking to see a "gotcha" in anything--however wrong-headed it may be--like the "want sum wood" remark. They will throw back things at you that are basically unexamined, such as someone just accepting Rathergate as "made up" and using that to blanket-condemn CBS and all so-called "liberal" media...know what I mean?

[Democat]

10. Hopefully Kerry will have a "tie" like this during the election

If Kerry wins on election day by the same margin, will ABC also call it a tie?

More right wing bias in the media.

[saracat]

13. Didn't they sort of come to that conclusion last time?

And BTW. wasn't Bush's win within the margin of error? LOL!

[RebelOne]

16. CNN's comment this morning was really annoying

They said that a Gallup poll after the debate gave Kerry an "insignificant" edge over Bush.