63336 launches its 'Alternative Report' on the Leaders' Debates

Clegg used his hands the most (11min 28s in total), Cameron smiled the most (97 times) and Brown was the quickest off the mark when answering questions (0.2s).

16 April 2010

63336, the UK's most accurate text question and answer service, has crunched the real statistics for the first ever live TV Leaders' Debate. Want to know who had the longest pause? Who repeated themselves the most? And who managed to dodge the question the most? 63336 has all the answers for you.

Analysis is being provided by researchers from 63336 who are scrutinising each of the three debates, which are on domestic affairs, foreign policy, and the economy.

Download the full report (pdf format).

The categories for analysis are based on questions previously texted to 63336 by the British public, for example "How often does a politician not answer the question?". The 63336 researcher statistics and analysis are then compiled overnight and published each week as the 63336 Alternative Report on the Leaders' Debates. The first 63336 Alternative Report, published on 16th April, provides answers to the questions the British public really want to know:

Q. Which party leader used their hands the most in the first debate?

A. Nick Clegg from the Liberal Democrats used his hands for a total of 11 min 28 sec, compared to just 9 min 19 sec for Brown and Cameron's 9 min 50 sec.

Q. Which party leader was the biggest smiler?

A. David Cameron was the biggest smiler by far - smiling 3 times as much as Gordon Brown (34 smiles) and Nick Clegg (31 smiles). He smiled 97 times in total.

Q. Which party leader was quickest off the mark?

A. Gordon Brown on the final question, question 8, who barely let Clegg finish before beginning his response in approximately 0.2 seconds.

"63336 has 800 experienced, very smart researchers across the UK who are used to answering tens of thousands of questions each day within minutes. We picked some of the most interesting questions recently texted to 63336, and have assigned teams of researchers to scrutinise each of the Leader Debates and produce detailed analysis and statistics," said Paul Cockerton, Communications Director, 63336. "People really want to know who looked most on edge. Our alternative statistics give a clear insight into each of the main parties and whether you're voting for just one person, a team or a nearly man."

Q. What were the top buzzwords?

A. During the debate, the most top 5 repeated words were tax (40), police (38), schools (36), the economy (33) and education (32). The budget deficit was only mentioned 13 times.

Q. Who told the best jokes during the first leaders debate?

A. Gordon Brown cracked the best jokes during the debate. His finest was when he remarked that Cameron couldn't airbrush his policies like he'd airbrushed his posters.

Q. Which party leader positioned themselves as more of a personality?

A. Nick Clegg spoke of himself as an individual 47% of the time, compared to David Cameron doing so 37% of the time & Gordon Brown 34% of the time.

63336 researchers also enjoyed the challenge: "I've always been a fan of 'Just a minute' tuning in every week, so it was really interesting to apply the same rules of the game to politicians," said researcher Louis Barfe. "Actually I think we might get some better answers from MPs if we had Paul Merton interrupting them for deviating from the question more often".

You can download the full report on the ITV Election Debate in pdf format.

Customers can also access regular updates on what the British public are asking with the 63336 mobile application. To get the 63336 mobile app, text APP to 63336 (£1) and download with 3 free questions, or point your mobile browser at http://63336.com/a and download for free with 1 free question.

Editors notes

63336, formerly known as AQA 63336, was the world's first premium text based question and answer service when it launched in April 2004. It has now answered over 22 million questions from 2.2 million customers. Based in London, UK, 63336 uses 800 home-based researchers to answer the questions. 63336 recently launched the 63336 app, which provides customers with free questions.

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