A CBS News survey of 473 uncommitted voters found that following the debate, 53 percent said they now have a better impression of Sen. Joseph Biden. Only 5 percent had a worse opinion, while 42 percent said the debate did not change their impression of the Delaware Democrat.
Similarly, 55 percent said they now have a better impression of Gov. Sarah Palin. Fourteen percent said they had a lower opinion of the Alaska Republican, while 30 percent said their views were unchanged.
The percentage of people who viewed Palin as knowledgeable on the issues increased from 43 percent before the debate to 66 percent afterward. For Biden, 79 percent found him knowledgeable before the debate, and an amazing 98 percent felt that way afterwards.
This reinforces the results of a recent research paper by Canadian political scientists Andrea M.L. Perrella and André Blais. They reached their conclusions by studying the effects of televised presidential debates in the United States since 1976 and party leader debates held in Canada since 1988.
“Generally, everybody comes out of a debate better off,” Perrella told Miller-McCune.com last month. He now has still more evidence to back up that assertion.
