Comments on: Enough of the “Obama by a Hair”

By: Jay_C

Jay_C — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 20:23:51 +0000

voters base their decision on emotional connections with the candidates rather than logic which is what debating is all about.”
exactly…The Men, woman lines led me to that conclusion as well. On issues that had nothing to doe with men or women specifically, Men and women differered in their responses.

By: Jay_C

Jay_C — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 20:20:39 +0000

I also “love” how they had the “men” “woman” “+, -” reaction lines. Was that an attempt to “normalize” people’s reactions? Meaning “oh, maybe I shouldn’t’ be thinking that was a good point, if nobody else did” To me, it seemed like it was there to keep your reactions in line with “everyone else”.

I agree though, if according to the analysts, if Obama barely pulled it off in the last 2, and without a doubt, McCain did better in this one, how did he win by a hair again?

By: Jason, Managing Editor

Jason, Managing Editor — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 19:58:49 +0000

A majority of the SAMPLE that was selected by the pollsters supported Obama. If the sample is bad, then the inferences drawn are bad. Some polls are better than others in achieving valid measurements.

By: C Stanley

C Stanley — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 17:50:16 +0000

Well, Wayne, I’m not sure if you were including me in that “you” but if you read my comment you’d have seen that my complaint was that voters base their decision on emotional connections with the candidates rather than logic which is what debating is all about. My beef is with voters, not the media, in this case.

I do think the rush to publish instantaneous reaction is a bit of a problem though. Historically it often happens that voters’ first reactions differ from what they later decide after reflection. The way the deluge of immediate polls hits now, though, the momentum to call it one way or the other builds so quickly that people don’t really seem to rethink their first impression.

Look, I’m quite willing to admit that this sticks in my craw at least partly because I support McCain and I know he needed a win. I’m not going to whine about how these things go down…it is what it is, and the tendency for voters to vote on emotion in some ways helps the GOP too so maybe it’s all a wash anyway.

By: Wayne

Wayne — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 17:28:58 +0000

Maybe a majority of voters thought Obama won by a hair.

By: Wayne

Wayne — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 17:22:22 +0000

Its not the media..its a POLL. They simply called people who watched the debate and asked them who do you think won. Im sorry most people dont agree with you but a majority of voters thought Obama won. What you need to do is analyze why your take on the debate is so far off from what average people observed.

By: C Stanley

C Stanley — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 16:15:20 +0000

Most people don’t seem to know what “winning a debate” really means- judging it by who raised a point which wasn’t countered, who’s points were backed by facts to support a conclusion vs. someone else who made unsubstantiated claims, and who controlled the overall message of the debate and played offense rather than defense.

Obama played good defense last night, but in normal terms that does not ‘win’ anything.

Unfortunately though, presidential debates aren’t real debates, they’re popularity contests. As such, the rules almost work in reverse- the guy who controlled the debate and scored on points is said to have been ‘too mean’ and ‘made ugly facial expressions’ while the guy on defense is seen as the winner because he was ‘cool’.