Seattlest: Washington Voters Split on Who Won the Vice Presidential Debate

Audrey

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 22:48:56 -0800

Hey Wes, you've got to look at FiveThirtyEight a little more closely, as they consistently rank SurveyUSA as one of the most reliable polling firms. That's the only reason why I would consider their results valid in the first place. To be fair, a day after the debate, SurveyUSA did another poll of Washington state voters, and found that opinion had drifted towards Biden (just barely out of the margin of error). Credit the influence of the pundits--and other polls--for that.

weskimcom

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 23:09:42 -0800

You've really gotta stop using SurveyUSA poll results as your story leads. WA residents believe McCain and Palin won their respective debates? If you look at the level of support in WA for Obama at fivethirtyeight.com which is a weighted average of multiple polls, the idea that a majority in WA would chalk up debate wins for McCain/Palin seems patently absurd. Clearly SurveyUSA's methodology makes them an outlier.

TroyJMorris

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 15:32:34 -0800

I had a lot of gin last night while watching the debate (wouldn't you?), and I texted my response to NBC's "Who Won" poll. Results just came back to me: 77% - Biden 23% - Palin. I also found this on CNN, which was pretty interesting: http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/11/revealed.biden.timeline/ http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/10/revealed.palin.timeline/

TroyJMorris

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 14:59:00 -0800

The number one issue with polls: they only call landlines. Raise your hand if you have a landline and if you raised your hand for that, do you answer it for telemarketers?

Patrick

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 14:56:05 -0800

What the hell is wrong with these people in Washington State who are getting polled? McCain and Palin winning the debates? Really? Did they watch the same debates I did?

brad

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 14:41:18 -0800

Especially stupid polls.

TroyJMorris

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 14:24:26 -0800

Polls are stupid.