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  Debate Effects

  As Bush and Kerry Prepare for Their First Match-Up, What’s at Stake?  Continued  

Others go at it differently. Some ask, "Who do you think did the better job — (this guy) or (that guy)?" Doing the better job is different from winning, and naming the guys steers people away from calling it a tie. Others ask who did the better job, but without naming the participants. Still others might not allow "tie" as an option at all. All polls should be evaluated on the basis of what they asked.

Lastly, someone somewhere is sure to run an Internet click-in "poll." Run screaming.

In 2000, both CNN and our very own ABCNews.com ran online click-ins on the debate. Earlier that day Jim Nicholson, then-chairman of the Republican National Committee, sent around a mass e-mail telling his people to go to CNN.com and ABCNews.com, "log on tonight: Vote after the debate and make your voice heard!"

Voilà: The ABCNews.com click-in had Bush winning the debate, 58 percent to 41 percent. Our actual poll had it 42 percent to 39 percent, Gore-Bush.

More ABC News polls can be found in the ABC News Poll Vault.

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