Campaign debates Modern history of debates The KennedyNixon
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 theme – Argue that theme is relatively unimportant – Try to ‘poison’ 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?
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