I thought Hitchens did a much better job that Tony Blair but it's hard to be unbiased. Here are the results of the poll before and after the debate.
On the question "Is Religion a Force for Good?"
Before the debate ...
Yes (Blair): 22%
No (Hitchens): 57%
Undecided: 21%
After the debate
Yes (Blair): 32%
No (Hitchens): 68%
Both speakers increased their numbers by about 10%. In simplistic terms, the undecided members of the audience split 50:50 on the question.
That's a tie by my calculation. The blogosphere is reporting this as a huge victory for Hitchens but it didn't seem that way in Massey Hall in Toronto. Just because Hitchens started out with 57% of the votes doesn't mean he won the debate. (Although I think he did.)
