CNN poll shows Ryan slightly over Biden in debate – lefties go off in comments

The Vice Presidential Debate in Danville, Kentucky featured a calm, cool Paul Ryan facing off against a visibly irritated, impatient and unruly Vice President Joe Biden. CNN conducted a poll after the debate asking who readers thought won the debate and Ryan edged out the feisty VP by four points – the left became unhinged in the comments.

The poll had a 5% margin of error which means the results actually indicate that the candidates matched evenly within the margin.Only 381 people responded to the poll, which is a small sample by polling standards.

What’s more interesting is the reaction of CNN readers – off the hinges ..

Seriously? There was a sample of 381 people.. why go off on it? Never mind.

Why is the sample so small and was the poll taken as a phone survey, exit survey, web poll? No indication

Another important note is CNN admitting it’s normal polling bias. In special note #2 on the poll, CNN says that their poll shows a slight GOP lean which they argue is not indicative of the general public:

SPECIAL NOTE OF CAUTION #2: The sample of debate-watchers in this poll were 31% Democratic and 33% Republican. That indicates that the sample of debate watchers is about eight points more Republican than an average CNN poll of all Americans, so the respondents were more Republican than the general public.

Interesting that CNN feels that that a 25% Republican sample would have been better? Exactly how “Republican” is the general public? Then again, why does it matter? Many Conservatives are unaffiliated independents, so not seeing a full set of cross-tables could mean that independents were more the reason for the Ryan weighting. The special note is meant to make it seem as though a heavy GOP sample is to blame.

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