Poll: Biden takes debate over Ryan, uncommitted voters say

Vice President Joe Biden and Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan of Wisconsin shake hands before the vice presidential debate at Centre College, Thursday, Oct. 11, 2012, in Danville, Ky. / AP Photo/Pool-Michael Reynolds

Analysis by Sarah Dutton, Jennifer De Pinto, Anthony Salvanto, Fred Backus and Lindsey Boerma

Fifty percent of uncommitted voters who tuned into Thursday night's vice presidential debate in Danville, Ky., said they see Vice President Joe Biden as the winner over Mitt Romney's GOP running mate Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., according to an instant poll taken by CBS News.

Of the 431 polled immediately following the debate, 31 percent deemed Ryan the winner, and 19 percent said they felt it was a tie. Party-wise it's a switch from last week's presidential debate, which uncommitted voters handed easily to Romney over President Obama.

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Poll: Joe Biden wins vice presidential debate

Both Biden and Ryan gained ground on relatability and knowledge. The percentage of voters who say they believe they can relate to Biden spiked from 34 percent before the debate to 55 percent; 48 percent think Ryan is relatable, up from 31 percent before the debate. Meanwhile, after watching the two candidates debate, 85 percent of those polled think Biden is knowledgeable about the issues; 75 percent say that about Ryan.

Ryan, though, faced a loss among voters' opinions of which candidate would be an effective president, if necessary. Before the debate, he led Biden 45 percent to 39 percent; after the debate, 56 percent of those polled said Biden would be an effective president, with fewer - 49 percent--saying the same about Ryan.

The "uncommitted voters" who participated in this poll are either undecided or have chosen a candidate but say they could still change their minds. They are less likely than voters overall to identify with either of the two major political parties: 58 percent call themselves independents, 17 percent identify as Republicans, and 25 percent say they are Democrats.

This CBS News poll was conducted online using GfK's web-enabled KnowledgePanel?, a probability-based panel designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The poll was conducted among a nationwide random sample of 431 uncommitted voters who have agreed to watch the debate. Uncommitted voters are those who don't yet know who they will vote for, or who have chosen a candidate but may still change their minds.

GfK's KnowledgePanel participants are initially chosen scientifically by a random selection of telephone numbers and residential addresses. Persons in selected households are then invited by telephone or by mail to participate in the web-enabled KnowledgePanel?. For those who agree to participate, but do not already have Internet access, GfK provides at no cost a laptop and ISP connection.

This is a scientifically representative poll of uncommitted voters' reaction to the presidential debate. The margin of sampling error could be plus or minus 5 percentage points for results based on the entire sample.

For full poll results, see next page

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Bat_Masterson says:

Ryan, being a good Christian and gentleman, tried to be polite and courteous to Biden who was not only rude but haughty, proud, and a boor: Proverbs 16:5, 1 Peter 5:5, Proverbs 15:25, James 4:6. Biden is a pseudo-Christian, and he is a bully. Most Democrats condone and tolerate bullies and bullying behavior, because they are communists, atheists and satanists.


politics345 replies:: linkicon reporticon emailicon; Watch Romney in the debates, he does the same exact thing. He would constantly interrupt the moderator and Obama, but he complained about it when anyone else did so to him. He did this in both debates. Obama got an entire world of crap for trying to be courteous in the first debate, what makes Paul Ryan any better? Biden shouldn't have been disrespectful like he was, but the republican candidate was not any different in the main debate.


politics345 replies:: linkicon reporticon emailicon; And besides, there is a clear cut line between atheists and satanists.

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GOP-R--Con-Men says:: Republicans attacking citizens with unamerican tactics like bogus voter I.D. laws to suppress likely voters for Democrats. Voting against extending unemployment benefits, voting against The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay For Women Act, against The Violence Against Women Act, against The Jobs Act, against raising the minimum wage. More than a few reasons why republicans are unworthy and underserving of your vote.

Yep, we're going in the wrong direction alright.; reply

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NotAGolfer says:: The reason this poll shows Biden ahead:

Of those polled, "58 percent call themselves independents, 17 percent identify as Republicans, and 25 percent say they are Democrats."; reply

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bellafacie says:: i wouldn't vote for obama if they paid me to vote for him. And ryan won the debate.; reply

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Dancing-in-the-Streets says:: Obama/Biden 2012 : )

or

RANGER/ZANN ; ); reply

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Dancing-in-the-Streets says:

http://www.salem-news.com/articles/october112012/romney-us-flag-tk.php

U.S. Flag lowered - Chinese flag is flying in its place.....
in Illinois!!!!!!!!!!!!

Because of BAIN! Mitt ROmney's Bain!

Now all of you United States Veterans - you just TELL me this doesn't bother you!!!!


Dancing-in-the-Streets replies:: linkicon reporticon emailicon; Okay...I'm giggling now!

: )


drich241845 replies:: linkicon reporticon emailicon; this was years after he was gone and the only flag flown was that of the unions in protest..

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TonyInLargo says:

............and we also need a strong VP. So, it's Obama and Biden for me again.


Scarooni replies:: linkicon reporticon emailicon; you are correct

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JKL212 says:

Where's the beef?
Can Romney and Ryan show people the details?
However, they don't know.
"Romney and Ryan are liars." rather than "we have solutions."
Please check out http://www.huffingtonpost.com/zach-friend/how-bidens-debate-perform_b_1962284.html?utm_hp_ref=elections-2012


BrianTerrill replies:: linkicon reporticon emailicon; You guys want every detail of how Romney/Ryan would conduct a war and yet we are not suppose to know the details of how Osama Bin Ladin was actually taken out because that would give away military secrets to the enemy. How about Obama give us the details on what he knew about our embassies being attacked instead of blaming Romney and a YouTube video.

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larryjenson says:

Joe Biden is the Uncle that all the kids are afraid of


zenia5 replies:: linkicon reporticon emailicon; Lying' Ryan is the politician that EVERY American should be afraid of.......as well as his sidekick Robme. Their motto: elect us first......then we'll think about explaining our positions to you. OR: If you don't like our positions at the moment, just hang in there....they change hourly.