For some reason I can't remember, I'm signed up for CNN e-mail bulletins. I just received this from Atlanta's Finest:
There was no clear winner of tonight’s presidential debate, according to a CNN/ORC International Poll of people who watched.
Debate viewers split 48% for President Obama and 40% for GOP challenger Mitt Romney in the poll, with a sampling error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.
OK, let's do exactly 15 seconds of analysis on this. CNN says there was "no clear winner" when their own poll shows Obama winning by 8 with a possible error of +/- 4.5 points. So in the worst case Obama won by 3.5, giving us a final score of Obama 53.5, Romney 46.5, excluding the other 12%, which they don't account for; perhaps it's "Tie-Lie People", 90% of whom you can add to Obama's score.
But Obama is not a "clear winner." Because only the headline matters, right? Even if you contradict it with your own polling data in the very next sentence.
Ted Turner, could you come back and kick some asses out the door, please?
Mon Oct 22, 2012 at 10:08 PM PT: Carla Marinucci at SFGate looks at the same CNN numbers and comes to a different conclusion: "CNN Poll calls debate decisive Obama win" - apparently Carla can do math.
http://blog.sfgate.com/...