Ahead of Thursday's vice presidential debate between Vice President Joe Biden and Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan, Gallup has released a report that reveals that it is unlikely that it will have any major impact on voter preferences.
According to the report, which was released Wednesday, none of the vice presidential debates from 1976 to 2008 appear to have made any significant difference among voters.
The results found that the biggest negative difference occurred in 1992 when support for Democrats dropped from 50 percent to 47 percent. The biggest positive difference occurred in 2000 when support for Republicans jumped from 41 percent to 44 percent.
The Gallup report noted that the polling organization has not asked viewers of the vice presidential debates on who they believe won or who lost. However, it was easier to evaluate the effect vice presidential debates might have had in election years 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2008, Gallup stated.
In election years 1976, 1984 and 2004, Gallup was unable to get a clear reading of the vice presidential debate's impact because the time period between the pre-vice presidential debate poll and the post-vice presidential debate poll included a presidential debate.
In 1988, a presidential debate did not occur in between pre- and post- debate polls, but included other events that could have affected the poll numbers.
Despite their lack of impact among voters, past vice presidential debates have provided memorable political moments, the Gallup report revealed. The most recent vice presidential debate in 2008 between Biden and Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, proved to be a highly anticipated event.
According to the Gallup report, debates-both presidential and vice presidential-rarely have an impact on voters because they occur so late in the campaign, after most voters have already chosen their candidate of choice. Surprisingly, the first debate of this election season between President Barack Obama and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney did affect the polls, making a shift towards Romney.
The vice presidential debate is scheduled for Thursday, October 11 at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky. Two additional presidential debates remain before the Nov. 6 election. The two presidential debates are scheduled for October 16 at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y. and on October 22 at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla.
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