Post Debate Polls - Media chooses the Winner Again

[Nederland]

I found an interesting correlation between the post debate polls and the word count of the participants.

Number of words spoken:

1) Senator Obama - 1,872
2) Senator Clinton - 1,766
3) Senator Edwards - 1,518
4) Governor Richardson - 1,281
5) Representative Kucinich - 1,180
6) Senator Biden - 961
7) Senator Dodd - 912
8) Senator Gravel - 753

Source: http://www.pollster.com/mystery_pollster/tag_clouds_for_the_democratic.php


Who won the debate:

1) Obama 31%
2) Clinton 24%
3) Edwards 14%
4) Biden 6%
5) Richardson 4%
6) Kucinich 3%
7) Dodd 2%
8) Gravel 2%
9) Not Sure 13%

Source: http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollReport.aspx?g=ba1ebc70-a734-4185-8532-2e4a9ba45d96&q=39848


Notice that there is a considerable correlation between how much time a candidate got to speak and whether or not that person was perceived to have "won" the debate. The exceptions are Biden, who did slightly better than his word count would indicate, and Kucinich, who did slightly worse. Given that the number of words a candidate gets to speak is in no small part determined by the moderator, it's no wonder these types of debates merely serve to solidify the top tier candidates. That, after all, is what the media wants: a smaller race that is cheaper to cover.

[lyonn]

1. It did seem that the top 3, Clinton, Obama & Edwards had the most questions

Duh... The media is busy, busy, busy picking the winner for us once again. It is called brain washing. You are lead to feel stupid if you consider a certain candidate. Kinda like when you opposed george during the run up to the war, those marvelous beating drums on "March to War" on all tv channels. America loves drama.

Edit: Thanks for the info.

[Colobo]

The top three are still the top 3

[Colobo]

2. Dupe!