Campaign debates

Modern history of debates The Kennedy-Nixon debates were the first televised debates – Evidence seems to indicate that Kennedy was seen as winning by those who watched, losing or tying by those who listened on the radio TV was not in all homes Televised debates did not occur again until 1976 – Carter-Ford debates Now a fixture

Other types of debates Debates during primary season Debates in non-presidential races – Extremely common but rarely studied – Do not draw the audience that presidential debates do

Audience response Please answer the following questions – Did you watch the debate on Friday? – What were you looking for? – What, if anything, did you learn? – Who impressed you most? – What did you like about him? – Who do you think won the debate? – What mistakes do you think either of the candidates made?

Pre-debate publicity Discussion of importance Handicapping the debaters

Learning from the debates Research shows that people do learn from the debates Those who have the least prior knowledge and are least committed to a particular choice but are interested in the campaign gain the most

The role of partisanship The strongest influence on perception of the candidate’s performance comes from the predispositions of the audience members – Think their candidate won – Most impressed by candidate’s demonstration of agreement with points the audience member believes in (checking to see their party’s nominee holds the expected beliefs, has the right stuff) However, partisans do still learn from the debates

Strategy Three choices—acclaim themselves, attack the opponent, and defend themselves – Benoit Each statement will focus on matters of policy or character

Self-presentation Values – Character Abilities – Leadership – Are they articulate Ideology – Issue positions

Interpersonal criticism How much What kind How intense Concerns: how effective v. potential backlash

Presentation of issue positions Research shows that too much evidence/detail actually leads the audience to grade the candidate lower Clear, strong positions are a double-edged sword – Indicate strength and resolve – Are likely to upset someone

Themes Goal is to set a theme and reinforce it throughout the debate Opponent has several options, depending upon his belief about what matters – Ignore the theme – Argue that the theme is relatively unimportant – Try to ‘poison’ the theme Show it is being misrepresented Show that it is actually a negative rather than a positive

Format Traditional two-podium confrontational Desk/table conversational Town hall How many/what type of question presenters? How many/what types of topics?

Visuals What shots are included? What are the common series of visuals? – Are candidates isolated when answering? – Where are the cameras placed? Distance Angle – Are the non-answering candidates tracked? – How are the moderators/panels presented? – What is the background?

Post-debate analysis What pundits are included? How effective are they in lobbying for their candidate? – Rarely find a pundit saying her candidate lost What is the role of the ostensibly neutral journalists? On several occasions the post-debate analysis is said to have strongly influenced public evaluation of the debates – Ford “gaffe”

So what was the public reaction?