According to Nielsen, close to 70 million Americans tuned in to watch the Biden-Palin debate. For comparison, the 2004 vice presidential debate between V.P. Dick Cheney and Sen. John Edwards drew 43.6 million viewers. The second Bush/Clinton/Perot debate of 1992 also attracted 69.9 million viewers. The all-time debate leader is the Carter/Reagan debate of 1980.
In a CBS News web poll of uncommitted voters who agreed to watch the debate, 46 percent said they believed Biden won the debate, compared to 21 percent for Palin, and 33 percent who were undecided.
In a CNN survey of people who had watched the debate, 51 percent of those polled thought Biden did the best job, while 36 percent thought Palin did the best job. Respondents said Palin was more likable, 54 percent to Biden's 36 percent. On qualifications to be president, 87 percent said Biden is qualified and 42 percent said Palin is qualified.
The Frank Luntz-Fox News focus group (video below) cuts against these overnight poll returns. In part, there is likely to be some suggestability going on in the focus group based on Luntz's steering of the questions and the participants knowledge that they are voicing their views on the decidedly partisan Fox network.
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SARAH PALIN IS A GIFT FROM GOD SHE IS FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE
We sure live in interesting times. Here in Canada we had a leaders debate (there are 5 parties) and Elizabeth May, head of our Green Party, gave an excellent account of herself, with a good command of facts and a sharp intellect. She shone among the other 4 lacklustre leaders, including our economist-trained PM, trying for a majority. Sarah would have been way out of her depth among our politicos.
You guys have a much more colourful debate scene, but with much less substantative issues.
I suppose we end up with the government we deserve...
the VP debate was stunning. Palin did a decent job faking about 20% of the questions and didn't even bother answering the other 80%.
i couldn't help thinking of the end of the movie Billy Madison, when the debate moderator says to Adam Sandler, "Mr. Madison, what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul."
He is just a gun for hire. Check his bio.
Wow, that FOX clip seemed really suspicious. What seemed odd to me was how the tone of all the audience members seemed very similar, as if one author was writing them all. The dissenting voices were ambiguous. It almost felt teleprompted, scripted, and done on take 6. It was bang bang bang, but people weren't interrupting each other. The only time the voices were blurred was the moment when they all began to roar their voices in approval of Palin's "obvious" abilities to lead.
There has to be someone who was involved with this experiment that'll come out soon with how much coaching was involved.
And this is about 17.5 million viewers more than the McCain/Obama debate's 52.4 million viewers last Friday.
By the way, the candidate who far exceeded expectations was Biden. http://www.slate.com/id/2201510/
Uh, of course the fox one is BS. It's Luntz ffs, it's no accident that every focus group he's ever done has shown that everybody loves a republican and that Reagan was the best thing since sliced bread, which he also invented.
"the VP debate was stunning. Palin did a decent job faking about 20% of the questions and didn't even bother answering the other 80%."
Whle Biden simply made up "facts as he went along: McCain has voted exactly the same way as Obama; Obama never said he would sit down with Ahmedinijad; that he (Biden) was for offshore drilling when he had previously described as "raping" the continental shelf; that McCain was in principle against further troop funding; that he (Biden) was always for clean coal; McCain voted against alternative energy 23 times; McCain would raise taxes on people's health benefits; Palin supported windfall tax oprofits in Alaska;
General McKiernan said surge principles used in Iraq would not work in Afghanistan;
The U.S. was spending more in Iraq in a month ($10,000,000,000) than it had since going into Afghanistan ($172,000,000,000); McCain was against financial regulation
even though he called for more regulation of Fannieand Freddie Mae; that McCain was dead wrong about the war in Iraq (Biden cast the same vote for it). Americans earning less than $250g's would be taxed when the thrshold is $200g; the bailout included Obama's four principles when it actually only incorporated two that had also been proposed before Obama went public; and finally the mother of all B.S.: Ameicans under Obama won't pay more than they did under Reagan.
It may very well be that Obama gets in but this I know: after four years of Barack (57 states) Obama the most ill-equipped man to ever get this far in a presidential election,
Americans will say "Never again."
If Obama were smart after he won he would demand a recount.
14. REAGAN TAX RATES: Biden is wrong in saying that under Obama, Americans won't pay any more in taxes then they did under Reagan.
Heck with the Luntz group. What I want to know is what David Brooks was smoking when he watched the debates, and where I can get some.
For that kind of detachment from reality, I will pay any price.