Post-Debate Polling Data Shows Conflicting Results on McCain-Obama Clash
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
October 15, 2008
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Instant polling data following the third and final debate between pro-life candidate John McCain and his pro-abortion rival Barack Obama show conflicting results. Depending on the poll or survey, the debate ended in a tie or Obama ran away with it by double digit margins.
The Insider Advantage polling firm conducted a survey for the political web site Politico and found uncommitted likely voters closely divided on who won the debate.
Some 49 percent of those middle of the road voters indicated they thought Obama won the debate while 46 percent say McCain was the winner. That three percentage point edge for Obama was within the margin of error, meaning the undecided voters believed the debate ended in a tie.
The same voters were also asked in advance of the debate whether they would support Obama or McCain and the poll also found the voters evenly divided.
Although not a scientific poll, a survey of AOL users also provides some insight because of the sheer number of people who voted online in its poll.
With nearly 200,000 people voting online, 48 percent believed Obama won the debate while 47 percent said McCain did. An equal 46 percent of the participants said McCain and Obama did an excellent job in the debate, 33 percent called Obama’s performance fair and 31 percent called McCain’s fair.
Some 22 percent of those in the survey indicated the debate affected how they would vote.
However, instant polls conducted by CNN and CBS News, whose surveys have been well outside the mainstream compared with other media outlets and polling firms, found different results.
Fifty-eight percent of debate watchers questioned in the CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll said Obama did the best job in the debate, with 31 percent saying John McCain performed best.
However, the CNN poll weighed the number of respondents with 10 percent more Democrats than Republicans.
A CBS poll found that 53 per cent of uncommitted voters saw Senator Obama as a winner against 22 per cent who thought Senator McCain won. Twenty-four per cent saw the debate as a draw.
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