Thursday, October 11, 2012

Biden-Ryan VP Debate: Instant poll results on who won

There are two instant polls on the results of tonight's debate between Vice President Biden and Rep. Ryan:
  • CBS: Biden by 50 to 31 among "uncommitted voters" (18% called it a tie)
  • CNN-ORC: Ryan by 48%-44% among "voters"
The two polls are not necessarily contradictory because they sampled different groups: uncommitted voters vs. all voters.  Both stories omit key details such as whether the poll group was drawn from registered voters or likely voters.  This always makes a difference because the less likely a person is to vote, the more likely he is to lean left.

There are reports of an AP poll but that may be  imaginary.  There is a CNBC "poll" but it appears to be merely unscientific online voting and has swung from one side to another, possibly as partisans do robo-voting.

Biden told some whoppers.  He claimed that there was no cronyism in the Stimulus spending.  He claimed our deficits are because of putting "two wars on a credit card."  He didn't admit that he voted for both wars and the cost of both wars together is less than the unfunded part of future Obamacare costs. 

In the debate itself, I found Ryan to be serious and sincere while Biden was smirking, rude, and arrogant.  This GOP video, which highlights Ryan's best moments, illustrates:



Biden continually interrupted Ryan's answers during Ryan's time. The moderator made no attempt to control him.  In my opinion, if she couldn't stop him, she should have turned off his microphone during these episodes.

What Biden's smirking effective?  I think Peggy Noonan sums it up well today:
I have just realized the problem with the debate: it was the weird distance between style and content, and the degree to which Mr. Biden's style poisoned his content.... The things he said had the rhythm and smirk of sarcasm without the cutting substance.
Thus, for those Democrats for whom substance is irrelevant, Biden's attack works.  For Republicans, it rankles.   For swing voters, time will tell how they saw it.

MORE:  Joel Pollak does a fact check: Top Ten Worst Lies by Joe Biden in VP Debate

ALSO on the Biden-Obama debate:
White House claims ignorance as their defense

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