The Results Are In!

Below are the findings from the Citizens Media Scorecard for the vice-presidential debate (we'll update these numbers as more results come in):

Gov. Sarah Palin and Sen. Joe Biden

• Thursday, Oct. 2 at Washington University
• Moderated by Gwen Ifill

Rate the quality of Ifill’s overall performance:

McCain Supporters
Excellent -- 19%
Adequate -- 67%
Poor -- 14%

Obama Supporters
Extremely-- 51%
Somewhat -- 42%
Not At All -- 7%

Rate the debate's focus on the issues. Were questions from moderator Gwen Ifill focused on serious and relevant concerns?

Overall, did Ifill’s performance display bias toward one candidate or the other?

Of people who said they plan to vote for Obama 93.4% said Iffil displayed "no bias;" 5.9% said she was "biased towards Palin," and 0.7% said she was "biased towards Biden."

However, among McCain supporters 50.7% said that Iffil was "biased toward Biden", 45.7% felt there was "no bias" and 3.7% said she was "biased towards Palin."

Where did you watch the debate?

49% of those who said they plan to vote for Obama watched the debate on either MSNBC (26%) or PBS (23%)

More than 53% of the people who said they plan to vote for McCain watched the debate on Fox News Channel.

Did Ifill challenge the candidates on misstatements of fact?

More than 70% of people who plan to vote for McCain said Ifill did not spend enough time challenging the candidates on misstatements of fact.

More than 74% of people who plan to vote for Obama said Ifill did not spend enough time challenging the candidates on misstatements of fact.

What’s your general view of the media’s election coverage?

More than 76% of Obama supporters rated commercial radio as a "poor" source of election coverage. Whereas 53% of them rated public radio as an "excellent" source of election coverage. Meanwhile McCain supporters rated magazines and journals as a poor source (70%) and Internet news sites as excellent (43%).

Read more analysis of the results.

Return to RateTheDebates.org.