Debating Europe: Effects of the “Eurovision Debate” on EU Attitudes of Young German Voters and the Moderating Role Played by Political Involvement

Abstract

In the run-up to the elections to the European Parliament in 2014, EU citizens had the unprecedented opportunity to watch televised debates between the candidates running for president of the European Commission. The most important debate was the so-called "Eurovision debate", which was broadcasted in almost all EU member states. In this study we explore the responses of a sample of 110 young German voters, who watched this debate, to the candidates' messages and whether exposure to the debate caused a shift in the respondents' attitudes towards the EU. Combining data from a quasi-experiment, real-time response data, and data from a content analysis of the debate, we find that respondents' reactions to the candidates' statements were-on average-positive and that some respondents displayed attitudinal changes resulting in more favorable views towards the EU. Although the direct connection between realtime responses and post-debate attitudes is not as strong as expected, most of the measured effects indicate that a positive evaluation of the candidates' messages usually results in more pro-European attitudes. Furthermore, we find no strong evidence that political knowledge moderates debate effects. In general, differences between political 'novices' and political 'experts' tend to be rare.

Do Spitzenkandidaten really make a difference? An experiment on the effectiveness of personalized European Parliament election campaigns

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Just a Show? Effects of Televised Debates on Political Attitudes and Preferences in Slovakia

“…For instance Maier, Rittberger, and Faas showed that the 2014 eP election debate increased support for deeper eU integration. 26 Since the longest tradition of televised debates is to be found in the USa, most of the research investigating the impact of television debates is based on evidence from american politics. However, scholars are also becoming increasingly interested in the impact in europe, especially in germany and the United Kingdom.…”

This time it’s different? Effects of the Eurovision Debate on young citizens and its consequence for EU democracy – evidence from a quasi-experiment in 24 countries

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“…In seven countries, recipients additionally had the opportunity to spontaneously evaluate the candidates during the debate. To do so, they used a web-based RTR push button system (for a description of the system see Maier et al 2016). Using this system, individual positive and negative reactions to candidate messages were recorded on a second-by-second basis.…”