“The result would have been meaningless if Drudge had run the poll asking, “Who won tonight’s debate?”, when the event didn’t include the leading contender for the nomination.”
So an Indy 500 race where the leading points getter doesn’t run, it’s meaningless to even show or report on the subsequent race and who rightfully won, because after all, the leading driver never did contend? Yeah, right.
I think the overall value of the information gleaned, would be the same. Sure, you'd know who won that particular race, but would it help to inform you as to the real standings over the season? Not really, because the field was arbitrarily shrunken by the absence of the front runner in that one race.
It would be a fair measure, but the information wouldn't be of much value to one and all.