Let's
stipulate up front that there are several ways to score a debate. The most obvious, though not necessarily the
most important in the long run, is to simply ask a group of people. Several informal polls did this, but as
Fortune Magazine points out, these may not be very scientific:
These informal polls should be taken with a healthy dose of skepticism, but they do provide an interesting counterpoint to the consensus of the beltway media.
For
example, the Huffington Post ran this article on their front page: HuffPost/YouGov Poll: Hillary
Clear Debate Winner
Now, reading that, who wouldn't think Hillary Clinton won the debate according
to a HuffPost/YouGov Poll. After all, that's what it says, right?
But when you click on the link, it goes to this article:
Democrats Name Clinton The Debate Winner In HuffPost/YouGov Poll
See the difference? Now it is just Democrats who Named Clinton in the HuffPost/YouGov Poll, 55% to 23%.
Only this isn't the whole story either.
First, this is a poll of only 1,000 people, and it's all web-based.
Second, if you open the PDF link showing the actual poll, you find out there are only 217 Democrats in the subcategory breakdown #4 out of 6, in question 3 of the 7-question poll. That is the only place there is such a lopsided support for Clinton over Sanders, it seems.
The total for question
3. Democratic Debate Winner
Which candidate do you think did the best job -- or won -- the debate?"
is Clinton: 38% though she won and Sanders: 22% thought he won, a considerably closer score, when gender, other party affiliations, age etc. are all rolled up together (remember, this is a poll of only 1,000 respondents, with a 4% margin of error, and that only if you're looking at the total. The number of respondents who are Democrats is less than 1/4 of that).
But here's an odd question to start the poll too:
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