Poll results of West Wing Viewers under age 30 - A big swing to the right.

The Washington Post ^ | Tuesday, November 8, 2005 | Lisa de Moraes

[Stillwillin]

...pollster Zogby yesterday, showing how much ground Smits's Santos lost to Alda's Vinick in the debate, despite obvious efforts to make Santos look heroic.

Before the episode, viewers between 18 and 29 preferred Santos over Vinick, 54 percent to 37 percent. But after the debate, in which veteran Alda gutted pretty-boy Smits without him even knowing it, Vinick now leads among viewers under age 30, 56 percent to 42 percent.

[Stillwillin]

Will younger voters now apply reason vs."feelings" when it comes time to pull the lever (or touching the screen)? Even the Wapo couldn't spin this one.

[mosquitobite]

BWHAHAHAHA!!!!

Just goes to show when given the *facts* on an issue more often than not the person will vote the *right* way! :)

[Hetty_Fauxvert]

I saw about 10 minutes of that debate before my husband expressed extreme boredom and made me change the channel. I was rather surprised ... I believe Alan Alda's personal politics are pretty far left, but he was doing a darned good job of arguing for the right! He might be regretting that now. The peril of being too good an actor, perhaps. :)

[Stillwillin]

Given his politics, Alda displayed impressive acting skills. He should get nominated for an Emmy

[conservative in nyc]

A Zogby poll? By how much did he oversample Democrats this time?

Wait. It's The Left Wing. Do any Republicans actually watch that?

[hsalaw]

"Great sweeps stunt turns into NBC headache."

BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!

[Grim]

So no Zogby is polling fictional politicians. How bizarre is that?

[Tamar1973]

I believe Alan Alda's personal politics are pretty far left, but he was doing a darned good job of arguing for the right! He might be regretting that now. The peril of being too good an actor, perhaps. :)

I found myself thinking the same thing. He's an excellent actor. Too bad some of his conservative research hasn't seeped in.

[TomGuy]

I watched some of the primary coverage last season.

It was obvious that WW was intending for Santos to be in the election. He kept coming from behind, astoundingly (yeh, right), to win or come in a close 2nd in the primaries.

With Alda as the GOP rep and Santos as the Dem presumptive, I lost interest. Go for the liberal or the leftist-in-GOP-clothes? lol.

Haven't paid much attention to Commander in Chief. Supernatural on WB is what I watch. CinC, per the promo's, gets rocked with scandal --- and this her 3rd or 4th week in office? Just what we need, a preview of an HClinton administration -- with more years of Clinton scandals.

[BunnySlippers]

Just goes to show when given the *facts* on an issue more often than not the person will vote the *right* way! :)

Or the 18 to 29 year olds "like a winner". That is also a potential factor.

[jeremiah]

I think it is time for real Presidential candidates to have surrogate actors debate for them and express their points of view. Think of it, we could have Jack Nicholson advocating for Bush. That is the one thing I would love to see, GW get a pair and go off on some of these lefties.

[GraniteStateConservative]

I saw about 10 minutes of that debate before my husband expressed extreme boredom and made me change the channel. I was rather surprised ... I believe Alan Alda's personal politics are pretty far left, but he was doing a darned good job of arguing for the right! He might be regretting that now. The peril of being too good an actor, perhaps. :)

He was good with the "There you go again" charm while giving his answers and he made use of dramatic effect to get his point across better.

[RoseofTexas]

Perhaps one of SUCKby's employees screwed the numbers, there will be hell to pay!! :)

[GraniteStateConservative]

I think it is time for real Presidential candidates to have surrogate actors debate for them and express their points of view.

Surely an idea whose time has come. Folks like Rush can articulate ideas charmingly and convincingly. Just use surrogates who are good at it. The West wing debate was way more interesting than actual ones.

[GraniteStateConservative]

I think it is time for real Presidential candidates to have surrogate actors debate for them and express their points of view.

I'd add that even getting someone like Rudy to fill in would be an upgrade. He's an excellent teacher, so to speak, and that's what's involved here.

[mosquitobite]

Well then...sounds like we need someone who could "win" a debate! (Pence?) ;)

[utahagen]

Alan Alda's been much quieter about politics over the past decade than he was up until then. He's personally a very traditional person; for example, he's had the same, original wife for forty or fifty years, which is remarkable in Hollywood. Maybe the decay in our culture has made him less willing to identify himself with the Left.

[xlib]

It's The Left Wing. Do any Republicans actually watch that?

I do. It's a pretty good show, and you can learn a lot about the left's view of the right, among other things. It's obviously propagandistic, but less so than I imagined before tuning in. I do sometimes want to shout at the screen when someone makes a lame argument to which there's an obvious response, but I save it for later. They even portray an occasional conservative argument favorably, especially on foreign policy.

[CGTRWK]

One wonders how many of the people watching and "voting" on this idiot box fiction know who their real world elected representatives are.

[July 4th]

This is hilarious!