As Hillary’s most realistic competition for the Democratic nomination, last night’s debate was Bernie Sanders’ to win. And many polls, focus groups and analyses have said that he did.
While these are not scientific polls, the results are interesting. This is especially the case considering Hillary comes in third for many of them.
As of Wednesday morning, TIME’s poll has Bernie Sanders leading the pack with 55 percent. Jim Webb has 32 percent, and Hillary 11 percent.
Drudge Report also conducted their own poll, with similar results. Sanders took just over 55 percent, Webb just over 25 percent, and Hillary had over 8 percent.
Focus groups also said that Sanders won the debate. This includes from Fox News’ Frank Lutz, Ballot Craft, and CNN’s own focus group, the network which hosted the debate.
Another focus group, conducted by Fusion, focused on the 18-34 year old crowd. Although the decision was not unanimous, this group also found Sanders to be the winner.
Google Analytics also showed Bernie Sanders to be some kind of winner, at least in terms of his 11p.m. spike and being the most searched candidate, as Mediaite pointed out.
Sanders won in other ways as well.
Forbes reported that he earned the most Twitter followers. As of Tuesday night, Sanders had gained 35,163 new followers. That’s even more impressive considering the other Democrats earned 23,219 followers, combined.
Huffington Post even thinks Sanders may have won the election after he defended Hillary. Perhaps the most memorable moment from the debate came when Sanders declared that “the American people are tired of hearing about your damn emails.”
And, Predictit pointed out that “traders think there is a 21% chance it will be Sanders” who benefits most from Tuesday’s debate.
Likely what matters most to Sanders though is the campaign donations. The Washington Post reported that his campaign claimed he took in $1.3 million in just four hours.
Perhaps this post-debate performance could have Sanders showing Hillary the “Bern” enough to force her from her front-runner status. There’s plenty of time to watch closely.
