React Labs: Educate
Summary Results for 2012
Presidential Debates
October 3, 2012
3767 people reacted at least once
56% were Democrats
27% were Republicans
60% plan to vote for Obama
24% plan to vote for Romney
11% undecided
52% believed Romney won the debate
Response highlights
• Strong "agree" responses for both candidates; but
much stronger "disagree" responses for Romney than
for Obama
• Participants appreciated moderator's attempts to keep
the candidates in line; when he pointed out they were
over time, "agree" clicks for the moderator increased
• Participants demonstrated ability to differentiate
concepts of "spin" and "dodge," but were much more
likely to click "spin" than "dodge"
Response highlights
• Obama received the most positive participant response
to comments on corporate tax break eliminations, and
the most negative response to his claim that he "kept
that promise" to fight for the middle class made in his
first campaign
• Romney garnered the most participant support on his
plans to promote energy independence and foreign
trade to improve the economy, while participants
responded most negatively to his energy policy
positions (e.g., support for coal and Canadian oil)
Debate response by groups
• Gender
– Men more frequently gave responses than women
– Greatest Difference between men and women is in Romney
Agreement
• Race
– Obama Agreement is most common click amongst all races
– Caucasians have the strongest preference for Romney
compared to other ethnic groups
Debate response by groups
• Partisanship
– Co-Partisans strongly agree with their own candidate
– Independents have a slight preference for Obama
• Vote Intention
– Those with a pre-debate vote preference tended to agree
with their preferred candidate
– Romney wins amongst undecided voters
By Gender
30000
25000
20000
Female
Male
15000
10000
5000
0
Obama Agree Obama Disagree
Obama Spin
Obama Dodge
Romney Agree
Romney
Disagree
Romney Spin
Romney Dodge
By Race
60
50
Obama Agree
40
Obama
Disagree
Obama Spin
Obama Dodge
30
Romney
Agree
Romney
Disagree
Romney Spin
20
Romney
Dodge
10
0
African American
Asian
Hispanic
Other
White/Caucasian
By Partisanship
60
Obama Agree
50
Obama
Disagree
40
Obama Spin
Obama
Dodge
30
Romney
Agree
Romney
Disagree
20
Romney Spin
10
Romney
Dodge
0
Closest to Democratic
Party
Lean Democrat
Independent
Lean Republican
Closest to Republican
Party
By Pre-Debate Vote Intention
60
Obama Agree
50
Obama
Disagree
Obama Spin
40
Obama Dodge
30
Romney
Agree
Romney
Disagree
20
Romney Spin
10
Romney
Dodge
0
Obama
Romney
Not Sure
Other
Perceived debate winner (by state)
More blue (red) = stronger preference for Obama (Romney);
Grey = no responses
Relative agreement (by state)
More blue (red) = stronger preference for Obama (Romney);
Grey = no responses
Obama/Romney Comparisons
• Most participants who responded agreed with
Obama, while Romney had the same number of
people agreeing with him as disagreeing with
him.
• Yet, Romney was slightly favored as the winning
debater.
• Thus, despite strong participant agreement with
Obama, most participants felt that Romney won
the debate.