Studied the effects of the February 20, 1980, debate involving seven Republican candidates. Results strongly suggest that watching a televised debate early in the presidential primary season can increase respondents' interest in, and knowledge about, the campaign. (PD)

Argues that the influence of televised, general election, presidential debates on prospective voters' perceptions of participating candidates may be larger than previous research suggests. Finds that two sources of debate effects have gone largely undetected to date: those based on candidates' relational communication, and those which are…

This study investigated what changes in the television-personality and presidential images of the candidates would occur among first-time young voters due to the first presidential debate. Subjects, 116 18- or 19-year-old students at Purdue University, completed semantic differential forms, before and after the debate, which rated the concepts of…

A study was conducted to determine the cognitive effects on viewers of the debate between vice-presidential candidates George Bush and Geraldine Ferraro. Adult passengers (N=468) on the Washington State ferries were interviewed, 191 before the debate and 277 afterward. Of those interviewed after the debate, 168 reported watching the debate and 108…

In partial replication of an analysis of the 1976 presidential campaign debates, two researchers analyzed the debate between Republican presidential candidates Ronald Reagan and George Bush (Houston, April 23, 1980) for its visual features, (amount and type of camera shots). The visual categories by which camera shots were coded included…

Surveys existing research on televised campaign debates; indicates areas for future research; considers the resources needed to expand and improve current research efforts; and encourages more systematic and sustained inquiry. Notes two compelling needs in terms of resources: an archive containing comprehensive records of media coverage of the…

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) provided funding for local public television stations to broadcast political debates prior to the 1998 election; CPB commissioned research to determine how the programs aided viewers in the election process. Viewers of the public television station local debate night program found the program to be of…

Recognizes the Kennedy-Nixon debate (in which alleged viewer disagreement was unsupported) as the seminal element in support of the position that television may distort the substance of political communications. Argues that although visual cues undoubtedly have potential to influence the perception of candidates, the nature of that influence…