Practically every online snap poll conducted after the second Democratic presidential debate found that Sen. Bernie Sanders performed best on stage Saturday night, while two traditional corporate polls show that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton won. Sanders was also the top-performing candidate on social media.
Of the more than 79,000 people who voted in TIME's online poll, 80 percent thought Sanders won the debate, compared to 15 percent who thought Clinton won. Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley garnered five percent support.
Sanders dominated in a poll for the left-leaning site Slate, with 81 percent support. Clinton came next with 13 percent, followed by O'Malley with three percent.
In a poll for the local affiliate station CBS Philly, Sanders was declared the winner by a whopping 92.4 percent of respondents, or 11,117 voters. Clinton trailed with 5.19 percent, or 624 votes, and O'Malley placed third with 2.41 percent, or 290 votes.
The same was true in a poll for Syracuse.com, which saw Sanders receiving 87 percent support, followed by Clinton with nine percent and O'Malley with four percent.
A poll on the conservative Washington Times website even showed Sanders winning the debate. Eighty-eight percent of respondents favored Sanders, eight percent Clinton, five percent thought the GOP won and three percent chose O'Malley.
In Fox 5 San Diego's poll, 89 percent of respondents, or 17,205 voters, said Sanders won, compared to eight percent for Clinton, or 1,603 voters, and three percent for O'Malley, 631 votes.
Online snap polls are not conducted scientifically and are not necessarily representative of the national electorate. They do, however, indicate enthusiasm for a candidate as well as which candidate has the most supportive or Internet savvy fan base.
Sanders was also the best-performing candidate in terms of social media engagement during the debate. Forty-three percent of Google searches during the debate were about Sanders, compared to 40 percent for Clinton. Sanders was the most-talked-about on Facebook and gained the most Twitter followers during the debate, adding 11,000 new followers compared to Clinton's 4,800 and O'Malley's 4,100 new followers, according to The Hill.
As for the two polls that were conducted in a more traditional scientific fashion by corporate polling companies, Clinton was chosen as the clear debate winner.
In a poll from Public Policy Polling, 67 percent of voters said Clinton won the debate, while 20 percent said Sanders won and seven percent picked O'Malley.
The telephone poll was conducted among 510 pre-selected Democratic national primary voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.3 percent. Public Policy Polling has a reputation for reliability, although many professional national pollsters have criticized the company for its polling methodology and for picking favorites. Interestingly enough, the poll on debate performance was "conducted on behalf" of the pro-Clinton super PAC Correct the Record.
Clinton also won according to a scientifically representative poll from CBS News, who hosted the debate.
Fifty-one percent of respondents in the CBS poll said Clinton won, compared to 28 percent who favored Sanders and seven percent who picked O'Malley.
The poll was conducted online using a random sample of 674 voters who identified as Democrat or independent and watched the debate. It has a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points.
