Undecided voters in Chicago studied during presidential debate using heart rate monitors

CHICAGO - A group of undecided voters gathered in Chicago's Loop during the presidential debate Tuesday night, where their physical reactions were studied using neurometric testing.

This is the second collaboration between IPSOS and MediaScience to track voter responses. Eight undecided voters were equipped with heart rate monitors and skin response sensors, and their facial expressions were analyzed throughout the debate.

"In the NeuroQube, there are three things that really important. The first one is that there’s a camera that records their facial expressions," said IPSOS market research expert Elizabeth Jarosz.

The goal is to record various emotional responses – such as boredom or heightened interest – in an attempt to track voter behavior.

"Most measures of debates look at the very rational level, like you ask people questions, ‘who won the debate?’ What’s really interesting about our measures is we measure emotion directly. People actually lack access to their own emotional journey, they don’t know what they’re really experiencing so you can’t ask them those questions – you want to measure them directly," said Duane Varan, CEO, MediaScience. "And you never know whether it’s going to be about what’s happening with the Democrats, whether it’s what’s happening with the Republicans, or whether it’s what’s happening with undecided voters, so you want to have every measurement under the sun at your disposal."

After the debate, five voters participated in a focus group to offer further insight into their reactions. Jarosz emphasized that the analysis focused on voters who remain undecided.

"The number one most important thing was to make sure that we found undecided voters. I painstakingly searched for people who were truly, truly undecided. And I made sure half of them were sort of leaning in Harris' direction and half of them were leaning in Trump's direction, so I could get like a good mix," said Jarosz.

In addition to on-site testing, roughly 300 voters in key swing states provided real-time feedback during the debate through at-home dial testing.

Tune in to GDC on FOX 32 Wednesday morning where Jarosz will be a featured guest to share details about the post-debate focus group and whether those undecided voters were swayed.