HILLARY CLINTON and Donald Trump are the most unpopular presidential candidates ever, but everyone is interested in what they have to say. On September 26th, amid a tightening presidential race, they will meet for the first of three debates. It is expected to be the most watched ever, with perhaps 100 million American viewers—it may even match the Super Bowl. The commentary, across the media, will be fast and furious.
Since the first televised presidential debate in 1960, journalists have tended to ascribe great importance to debate performances. Candidates are said to gain “momentum”; truly exceptional debate performances may even be judged to be “game changers”. Certainly debate gaffes can come to dominate the political conversation: in a 1976 debate, then-president Gerald Ford once famously (and ludicrously) proclaimed that Poland, Romania and Yugoslavia were free of Soviet influence. Mr Ford duly went on to lose the election.
But political scientists are actually quite sceptical about the idea that presidential debates have a big effect on elections. Perhaps the most cited academic study on the topic comes from Robert Erikson and Christopher...Continue reading
Source: United States http://ift.tt/2dmfHlx
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