Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama drew the most favorable responses from a test group watching his Sept. 26 debate with rival John McCain, with Sen. Obama’s comments on oil independence and healthcare scoring best among the subjects assembled by Nielsen and CBS.
Sen. McCain resonated best with his comments on succeeding in the war n Iraq.
A group of 44 people conscripted by Nielsen Co. and CBS reflected their feelings about the debate in real time by dialing up or down on measuring devices to indicate approval or disapproval.
The least favorable response to Sen. Obama came during his discussion of investing in the American dream. Sen. McCain’s low point came during his closing comments as he summarized his qualifications for the presidency and his plans for keeping the U.S. safe. That low came just minutes after his high point with the panel.
The panel reacted negatively to the two candidates’ exchange on energy policy.
The report from Nielsen posted Tuesday noted that the sample size was not large enough to be statistically significant according to Nielsen standards. The results won’t be part of CBS’ election polling.
According to Tuesday’s report, the 22 men and 22 women on the panel had largely similar responses to the debate. In several instances, Sen. McCain’s comments drew markedly less positive reactions from female panelists.
When parsed by age, the data indicates that respondents of all ages also showed largely similar responses to the candidates’ comments. However, panelists ages 35-54 occasionally deviated from the norm.
Those viewers registered less positive responses than panelists between the ages of 18-34 and 55-99 when Sen. Obama discussed his plan for dealing with the financial crisis, relations with Pakistan and holding diplomatic talks with countries hostile to the U.S.
Panelists’ responses were measured at CBS’ TV City research facility in Las Vegas, using Nielsen technology.
(Editor: Baumann)