Californians Say Rudy Won

The pundits are wrong, A SurveyUSA of California debate watchers finds Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani convincingly won the California debate among Republican presidential candidates.

Giuliani was picked as the winner by 30% of those in CA who watched. Former Massachusetts Governor Romney was picked as the winner by 12%, and Arizona Senator McCain was picked as the winner by 11%. All other candidates were in single digits:

Who Won The Debate?

4% Brownback
8% Gilmore
30% Giuliani
4% Huckabee
7% Hunter
11% McCain
12% Romney
2% Paul
4% Tancredo
2% Thompson
16% Not Sure

Californians are much less engaged in the 2008 presidential campaign than are South Carolinians. One in three South Carolinians watched the Democratic debate, compared to one in eight Californians who watched the Republican debate.

This small number of adult Californians, who watched a Republican presidential debate nine months from the California primary and 18 months from the General Election, is unlikely to be a very reliable guide to California Republican primary voters. More information on the SurveyUSA poll results, or how the survey was conducted, is available here and here.

The California debate watchers think Giuliani has the best plan for Iraq and immigration reform:

20% of CA debate watchers say McCain has the best plan for Iraq, which was only slightly behind Giuliani, who was picked by 25% as having the best Iraq plan. [. . .] Giuliani was seen as having the best solution for immigration reform by 31% of CA viewers. No one else was close.

That is peculiar because I don't recall Giuliani saying much about Iraq during the debate.