In CBS News/GfK “Instant Poll,” 53% of Uncommitted Voters Declare President Obama Winner of Final Presidential Debate of 2012

CBS News turned to GfK’s KnowledgePanel® for immediate reaction to all four 2012 presidential, vice presidential debates

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- A GfK “instant poll” conducted for CBS News just after last night’s presidential debate showed that 53% of uncommitted voters believed President Obama had won the debate, compared to 23% for Governor Mitt Romney, and 24% who said they believed it was a tie.

GfK has conducted “instant polls” for CBS News immediately after all three 2012 presidential debates, as well as after the vice presidential debate between Joe Biden and Paul Ryan. The polls have figured prominently in CBS News’ over-the-air and online coverage and in articles by major national publications and websites.

The poll also showed that 45% of uncommitted voters who watched the debate said their opinion of Barack Obama changed for the better, while 28% said the same about Mitt Romney.

To read full CBS News coverage of the debate and the instant poll,
click here.

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 523 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(r). 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 4 percentage points for results based on the entire sample.

About GfK

GfK is one of the world’s largest research companies, with more than 11,000 experts working to discover new insights about the way people live, think and shop, in over 100 markets, every day. GfK is constantly innovating to use the latest technologies and the smartest methodologies to give its clients the clearest understanding of the most important people in the world: their customers. In 2011, GfK’s sales amounted to EUR 1.37 billion.

To find out more, visit www.gfk.com or follow GfK on Twitter: www.twitter.com/gfk_en.

David Stanton, 908-875-9844
GfK Marketing and Communications, Consumer Experiences North America
[e-mail]

Source: GfK