@nimh,
There is no way that professional polling groups could have gotten representative samples last night. They can't call people that late at night. Even when they are able to reach people, the polling procedure is a rather lengthy process.
I don't have much faith in any of the instant polls that emerged last night or this morning. Who won the debates is less important than how it will influence the voting--if it affects it at all. It will take the more accurate professional pollsters days to determine that.
Every election season I regularly get calls from one of the professional pollsters--generally the Marist College.
http://www.maristpoll.marist.edu/
Their surveys take about 20 minutes, and they do not rely on yes or no answers or simply asking who you prefer. Typically they read you a long list of statements and you must state whether you agree or disagree with each statement by giving a number from 1--10 to indicate how strongly you agree or disagree. They also include questions which are similar but worded differently, which gives an indication of how consistently or reliably the person is answering the statements. I've always felt they were doing a very thorough job when I participated in one of these polls.
I have wondered whether my willingness to participate and give of my time increased the probability I would be called back in the future, for another poll, since I seem to get more of these calls from pollsters than other people I know.
)
