Televised Presidential Debates and Public Policy

Kraus, Sidney

doi:10.4324/9781410602787

Cited by 39 publications

(49 citation statements)

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“…In one widely cited example, Richard Nixon's unattractive appearance in the first televised debate of the 1960 campaign is widely believed to have strengthened JFK's candidacy. People who listened to the debate on the radio thought Nixon had won, while those who watched on television preferred Kennedy (Jamieson and Birdsell 1988;Kraus 1988;Druckman 2003). Similarly, with other factors held constant, more attractive candidates are preferred over less attractive ones (Sigelman, Sigleman, and Fowler 1987) and changes in facial expressions cause shifts in voting preferences (Rosenberg and McCafferty 1987).…”

Section: Cognitive and Nonverbal Bases Of Candidate Evaluationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Facial Similarity between Voters and Candidates Causes Influence

Bailenson¹,

Iyengar²,

Yee³

et al. 2008

Public Opinion Quarterly

159

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Social science research demonstrates that people are drawn to others perceived as similar. We extend this finding to political candidates by comparing the relative effects of candidate familiarity as well as partisan, issue, gender, and facial similarity on voters' evaluations of candidates. In Experiment 1, during the week of the 2006 Florida gubernatorial race, a national representative sample of voters viewed images of two unfamiliar candidates (Crist and Davis) morphed with either themselves or other voters. Results demonstrated a strong preference for facially similar candidates, despite no conscious awareness of the similarity manipulation. In Experiment 2, one week before the 2004 presidential election, a national representative sample of voters evaluated familiar candidates (Bush and Kerry). Strong partisans were unmoved by the facial similarity manipulation, but weak partisans and independents preferred the candidate with whom their own face had been morphed over the candidate morphed with another voter. In Experiment 3, we compared the effects of policy similarity and facial similarity using a set of prospective 2008 presidential candidates. Even though the effects of party and policy similarity dominated, facial similarity proved a significant cue for unfamiliar candidates. Thus, the evidence across the three studies suggests that even in high-profile elections, voters prefer candidates high in facial similarity, but most strongly with unfamiliar candidates.

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Section: Cognitive and Nonverbal Bases Of Candidate Evaluationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Facial Similarity between Voters and Candidates Causes Influence

Bailenson¹,

Iyengar²,

Yee³

et al. 2008

Public Opinion Quarterly

159

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In this contribution, we focus on the influence of debates on political attitudes towards candidates and issues, the impact of which is heavily disputed in the literature. While a meta-analysis by Benoit, Hansen, and Verser (2003) indicates that viewing televised debates can affect issue preferences and attitudes respondents hold towards the candidates (see also, e.g., Abramowitz, 1978;Geer, 1988;Lanoue & Schrott, 1989a, 1989b, most studies on debates in the U.S. suggest that debates reinforce already existing attitudes rather than transforming them (see, e.g., Chaffee, 1978;Hagner & Rieselbach, 1978;Katz & Feldman, 1962;Kraus, 2000;McKinney & Carlin, 2004). These findings are in line with the results from classical campaign research that the reinforcement of attitudes is the most important campaign effect.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Maier

Rittberger²,

Faas³

2016

PaG

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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.

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“…Há vários estudos sobre o impacto dos debates na decisão de voto dos eleitores (HELLWEG;PFAU et al, 1992;KRAUS, 2000;SCHROEDER, 2000). Abramowitz (1978) estudou as preferências de eleitores americanos no pleito de 1976, entre Gerald Ford e Jimmy Carter, e concluiu que os debates influenciaram os eleitores no tocante à sua conscientização política, mas não mudaram a intenção de voto.…”

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Metáforas de Lula e Alckmin nos debates de 2006 em uma perspectiva da Lingüística de Corpus

Sardinha¹

2007

Rev. bras. linguist. apl.

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RESUMO: O objetivo deste trabalho é contrastar o uso de metáforas pelos dois candidatos no segundo turno das eleições presidenciais de 2006, Luís Inácio Lula da Silva e Geraldo Alckmin, para saber até que ponto Lula, que foi vitorioso nas urnas, usou metáforas de modo mais eficaz do que o outro candidato durante os debates televisados. Foi colhido um corpus de transcrições desses debates, que foi então analisado em termos da presença de metáforas lingüísticas e conceptuais. O uso de metáforas dos dois candidatos foi contrastado e a análise revelou que houve poucas diferenças entre os candidatos. Ambos usaram quantidades parecidas delas. A principal diferença entre eles foi em relação à ênfase. Alckmin pulverizou suas metáforas: colocou em cena um número maior delas, mas com poucas ocorrências de cada. Lula foi mais seletivo e o neutralizou, conseguindo concentrar seu discurso em metáforas mais afinadas com seus propósitos. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: metáfora, Lingüística de Corpus, debates televisados ABSTRACT: The aim of this study is to contrast the use of metaphors by the two presidential contenders in the runoff of the Brazilian presidential race of 2006, Luís Inácio Lula da Silva and Geraldo Alckmin, in order to establish if Lula, who was victorious, actually used metaphors in a more effective way than his opponent on the television debates. Metaphor use by both candidates was compared, and the analysis revealed that there were few differences between the two candidates. Both used similar quantities of them. The main difference was stress. Alckmin scattered his metaphors, by putting in place a greater number of them, with few occurrences of each. Lula, on the other hand, was more selective and neutralized his opponent, thus being able to stress metaphors that were better suited to his needs. KEY-WORDS: metaphor, Corpus Linguistics, Brazilian presidential debates 1 Agradeço o apoio das seguintes agências: CNPq, processos 350455/2003-1, 307307/2006-9, 450239/2006-3; Capes, processo 0397/04-0; FAPESP, processo 06/ 00109-9. Sou também grato pelos comentários dos pareceristas anônimos e pela leitura cuidadosa de Estela de Jesus Martins e de Cecília Lopes de uma versão anterior deste trabalho.

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Televised Presidential Debates and Public Policy

Cited by 39 publications

References 0 publications

Facial Similarity between Voters and Candidates Causes Influence

Facial Similarity between Voters and Candidates Causes Influence

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

Metáforas de Lula e Alckmin nos debates de 2006 em uma perspectiva da Lingüística de Corpus

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