538/Ipsos Poll: February 7 Democratic Debate

Washington, DC, February 8, 2020 – The eighth Democratic Debate is over, and our pre- and post-debate tracking with FiveThirtyEight is complete. Among debate-watching likely Democratic voters, Sanders is seen to have had the strongest debate by a small margin (27%) followed by Klobuchar (20%) and Buttigieg (18%). Furthermore, Sanders received the most ratings of having a ‘very good performance’ (38%), followed again by Klobuchar (32%) and Buttigieg (32%). You can find FiveThirtyEight’s full writeup of the poll here.

Methodology

This pre-debate 538 Debate/Ipsos Poll was conducted February 4th to 6th, 2020 using Ipsos’ KnowledgePanel®. This poll is based on a nationally-representative probability sample of adults age 18 or older. Questions presented in this document were only asked of those who are likely to vote in the Democratic primary or caucus (n=3,593).

This post-debate 538 Debate/Ipsos Poll was conducted February 7th to 8th, 2020 by Ipsos’ KnowledgePanel® – a division of Ipsos. Wave 1 of this poll was based on a nationally-representative probability sample of adults age 18 or older. Wave 2 was administered to those who indicated in Wave 1 that they are likely to vote in their state’s upcoming Democratic primary or caucus (n=1,850).

The survey was conducted using KnowledgePanel, the largest and most well-established online probability-based panel that is representative of the adult US population. Our recruitment process employs a scientifically developed addressed-based sampling methodology using the latest Delivery Sequence File of the USPS – a database with full coverage of all delivery points in the US. Households are randomly sampled and all persons in the selected households are invited to join and participate in the panel. Ipsos provides selected households that do not already have internet access with a tablet and internet connection at no cost to the panel member. Those who join the panel and who are selected to participate in a survey are sent a unique password-protected log-in used to complete surveys online. As a result of our recruitment and sampling methods, samples from KnowledgePanel cover all households regardless of their phone or internet status and findings can be reported with a margin of sampling error and projected to the general population.

The study was conducted in both English and Spanish. The data were weighted to adjust for gender by age, race, education, Census region, metropolitan status, and household income. The demographic benchmarks came from the 2019 March supplement of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey (CPS). The weighting categories were as follows:

• Gender (Male/Female) by Age (18–29, 30–44, 45–59, and 60+)
• Race/Hispanic Ethnicity (White/Non-Hispanic, Black/Non-Hispanic, Other or 2+ Races/Non-Hispanic, Hispanic)
• Education (Less than High School, High School graduate, Some College, Bachelor and beyond)
• Census Region (Northeast, Midwest, South, West)
• Metropolitan status (Metro, non-Metro)
• Household Income (Under $25,000, $25,000-$49,999, $50,000-$74,999, $75,000-$99,999, $100,000-$149,999, $150,000+)

The pre-debate poll margin of sampling error among those likely to vote in the Democratic primary or caucus is plus or minus 1.8 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. The margin of sampling error takes into account the design effect, which was 1.20. The post-debate poll margin of sampling error among those likely to vote in the Democratic primary or caucus is plus or minus 2.6 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. The margin of sampling error takes into account the design effect, which was 1.34. The margin of sampling error is higher and varies for results based on sub-samples. In our reporting of the findings, percentage points are rounded off to the nearest whole number. As a result, percentages in a given table column may total slightly higher or lower than 100%. In questions that permit multiple responses, columns may total substantially more than 100%, depending on the number of different responses offered by each respondent.

About Ipsos

Ipsos is the world’s third largest market research company, present in 90 markets and employing more than 18,000 people.

Our passionately curious research professionals, analysts and scientists have built unique multi-specialist capabilities that provide true understanding and powerful insights into the actions, opinions and motivations of citizens, consumers, patients, customers or employees. We serve more than 5000 clients across the world with 75 business solutions.

Founded in France in 1975, Ipsos is listed on the Euronext Paris since July 1st, 1999. The company is part of the SBF 120 and the Mid-60 index and is eligible for the Deferred Settlement Service (SRD).

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