Voters' Reactions to Televised Presidential Debates: Measurement of the Source and Magnitude of Opinion Change

Lanoue, David J.; Schrott, Peter R.

doi:10.2307/3791648

Cited by 35 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…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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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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“…We know from individual-level research that viewers' assessments of debate performances are heavily filtered by party loyalty and candidate preferences~see, e.g., Hagner and Rieselbach 1978;and Lanoue and Schrott 1989; 1991!. The best predictor of which candidate a voter will select as the debate winner is the candidate favored by that voter's prior attitudes.…”

Section: Interpreting Debate Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Debates Are for Losers

Schrott

Lanoue

2008

APSC

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On the morning of October 30, 2007, Hillary Clinton led Barack Obama, her closest challenger for the Democratic presidential nomination, by a comfortable margin in every significant national poll. That night, however, Senator Clinton, debating in Philadelphia, wandered into an ambush. Asked for her opinion of then-New York Governor Eliot Spitzer's plan to allow illegal immigrants to apply for driver's licenses, she first seemed to support the idea and then, under withering attack from Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd, almost immediately backed away from her tepid endorsement. Writing shortly after the debate, Mark Halperin (2007) ofTimemagazine opined that “[i]f [Clinton] loses the nomination, tonight will go down in history as the first step to her defeat.”

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“…For example, many studies on debates use students as subjects (e.g., Benoit et al, 2001;Lanoue & Schrott, 1989;Patterson, Churchill, Burger, & Powell, 1992). Another substantial group of studies use local samples of subjects, respondents who live in a particular geographical area (e.g., Drew & Weaver, 1991Weaver & Drew, 1995.…”

Section: Summary Of Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Presidential Debate Watching, Issue Knowledge, Character Evaluation, and Vote Choice

Benoit

Hansen

2004

Human Comm Res

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This study employs NES (National Election Survey) data from several presidential elections to investigate the effects of presidential debate watching on voters' issue knowledge, character evaluation, and vote choice. Debates can instill issue knowledge; however, voters are less likely to learn about incumbent presidents seeking re-election after a four-year term in office than about other candidates. Debates are also capable of changing voters' impressions of the candidates' character. Finally, at times debates help viewers make a vote choice; they are more likely to strengthen existing preferences (increasing confidence in their vote choice) than alter vote preferences.

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Voters' Reactions to Televised Presidential Debates: Measurement of the Source and Magnitude of Opinion Change

Cited by 35 publications

References 3 publications

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

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

Debates Are for Losers

Presidential Debate Watching, Issue Knowledge, Character Evaluation, and Vote Choice

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