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Tag: presidential debates

  • Televised Presidential Debates Do Matter, Shows Study

    Ever since John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon appeared in a televised debate in 1960, TV debates have been powerful moments in U.S. presidential campaigns. In recent years, however, the purpose and influence of presidential debates has come into question as the events have become ever more staged.

    This week, a new study has shown that such debates are still powerful influencers of political opinion during campaigns.

    The study, published recently in the journal Communications Studies, found that debates do not significantly influence those who have already chosen a candidate to vote for. However, the debates were also seen to push undecided voters toward one candidate or the other.

    “Viewing debates significantly increased polarization among those who go into the debate with very little candidate preference or attitude and have no strong opinions either way,” said Ben Warner, co-author of the study and a communications professor at the University of Missouri. “The good thing is we feel that moderates make up the group of voters that needs to shift toward one candidate or another.”

    The study looked at potential voters who watched the presidential debates in the past four presidential elections, as well as the vice presidential debates in the previous two elections. Undecided voters were found to have the greatest change in opinion following the debates, often leaning toward one candidate. This trend was seen across voters’ personal traits measured in the study, and Warner observed that even the shift in media consumption seen in the past decade didn’t change the outcome.

    “Despite the white noise of social networks and media, debates truly do make a difference because they are the single biggest electoral event with the largest audience. Because both sides have equal time to make their cases, debates are the most balanced message voters receive over the course of a campaign,” Warner said. “If debates move more moderates into the conversation and help get them more engaged in the political process that’s a positive thing because it dilutes the vitriol usually associated with the electoral conversation.”

    (Image courtesy Newsinc)

  • Candy Crowley Takes Heat For Fact-Checking

    Candy Crowley, the second female moderator in the presidential debates, is taking some fire for becoming “an active part of the debate”, as alleged by New Hampshire governor John Sununu. Her comment to Governor Romney during the tense back-and-forth over the Libya attacks–in which she asserted that President Obama did, in fact, call it an act of terror the next day rather than two weeks later, as Romney insisted–has garnered disdain from the Republicans, who seem to think she was choosing sides.

    “Both the moderator and the president were dead wrong on the Libya question,” Sununu said. “Candy was wrong. Candy had no business doing that … I think Candy Crowley decided she wanted to be an active part of the debate.”

    However, Crowley was simply fact-checking, and did actually acknowledge to Romney that it did take fourteen days for some of the facts to come to light about the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya, which killed four people. Crowley says she was just doing her job, however.

    “I was trying to move the conversation along. They got stuck on this,” she said. And on the topic of the Republicans who take issue with the way she moderated, she said, “I’m sorry they’re upset, but tomorrow they’ll be upset about something else, as will the Democrats.”

    Indeed, both Romney and Obama barreled over one another several times during the debate, especially during heated topics. They both went over their given time limits and both talked over Crowley, who refused to be ignored. Often, she had to gently but firmly push them into the next topic or onto the next question from town hall audience members, reminding them several times that there was still a lot to be discussed. She says that she was unaware of a memo stating that “the moderator will not ask follow-up questions or comment on either the questions asked by the audience or the answers of the candidates” and says she was simply trying to move things along. Interjecting a fact-check was her way of putting an end to an escalating argument which was going nowhere.

    The subject of Libya caused things to get especially tense on the floor. Obama said he “took offense” at Romney’s accusations that he hadn’t done everything in his power to keep the safety of his employees a top priority, especially considering he was close to those who lost their lives and mourned with their families after news of the attacks broke. However, Crowley says she didn’t feel the tension.

    “There was a territorial imperative thing going on,” Crowley says. “But I didn’t feel the tension that everyone else seemed to feel.”

    Image: Jim Young

  • Fox News / Google Debate Wants Your Participation

    In what will be one in an already packed schedule, Google and Fox News are teaming up for a Republican Presidential Primary Debate this month.

    The debate will take place in Orlando, Florida on September 22nd and will be broadcast live on the Fox News Channel as well as streamed live on YouTube.

    According to the YouTube blog, this debate will be interactive and rely heavily on user-submitted questions. Beginning today, interested parties can submit their questions for consideration to the Fox News channel via video or text.

    Viewers will be able to vote on which questions they want to see the candidates debate –

    The Fox News/Google Debate will combine the questions you submit on YouTube with maps, facts and information to enrich and guide the discussion. You can vote thumbs up or down on the questions using Google Moderator, and many of the top-voted will be put straight to the candidates to answer.

    From the Fox News side of it, they have announced the moderator for the debate: Fox News host Bret Baier. Fox News’ Chris Wallace and Megyn Kelly will also be on the panel.

    During the debate, the broadcast will include real-time public data and search trends from Google – a way to visualize the chatter about the questions and the candidates’ answers.

    The debate is set to kick off at 9 pm ET.