Channels debate: International pollster scores Obaseki 76.3%

Shortly after Channels Television’s governorship debate which featured candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Godwin Obaseki and Osagie Ize-Iyamu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the result received from Flash Poller, an international pollster, showed Obaseki garnered 76.3 per cent of the positive votes while APC’s Ize-Iyamu scored 23.7 per cent.

The viewers who were sampled randomly by Flash Poller, said Obaseki demonstrated a firm understanding of development issues, namely; resource mobilisation, partnership with development actors such as the World Bank and his high premium on due process, transparency and the rule of law.

Some participants linked the governor outstanding performance in the area highlighted above, to his vast experience in the corporate world, his finance background, his eight-year job as head of the economic management team in the state and his four years as governor of the state.

“From Obaseki’s presentation, it is glaring that he understands modern tools of development and governance, such as the effective deployment of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and strategic partnership with the private sector, traditional institution and other development actors,” a viewer of the CHANNELS TV Debate, and poll respondent, told Flash Poller.

However, Ize-Iyamu’s 23.7 per cent votes came on the back of his perceived ability to galvanise the political class, given his longer history in partisan politics.

But the viewers surveyed said they wouldn’t know how this affinity with the political class would translate to enhanced socio-economic status for majority of Edo people.

Specifically, the sampled population for the poll scored Obaseki higher than the APC candidate in elocution, presentation, comportment, appreciation of issues, use of rebuttal, use of argument, factuality and comportment, amongst other rubrics, with an average score of 7 to 3, in favour of the PDP candidate.

Ize-Iyamu lost points when the viewers surveyed expressed higher readiness to entrust the state’s resources in the hands of the PDP candidate, as according to them “Ize-Iyamu failed to acknowledge some achievements of the Obaseki-led administration, such as education reforms; projects like the Ossiomo Independent Power Plant and the Edo Modular Refinery, which are on ground in the state.”

The debate grading or scoring rubrics used in the survey, included; presentation, comportment, appreciation of issues, use of rebuttal, use of argument, factuality, mutual respect, questions for opponent; elocution and use of time.

Flash Polls, according to Barometr.com, “are a type of survey designed to quickly reach a target audience with a time-sensitive goal. They can take on a variety of forms and are popular in many sectors. Although used frequently during political campaigns, flash polls are common across all sectors.

“Most flash polls are based on pre-built templates. This allows them to be deployed rapidly in response to an event or major topic. Due to their limited time-frame, they rely heavily on statistical inference to make up for a limited sample size.”

The population of the surveyed group comprised people located in Edo and other parts of the world, who watched the governorship debate, and are very familiar with the issues surrounding the Edo gubernatorial election.