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Presidential debates have become an institutionalized component of presidential campaigns. Debates have been shown to create learning in voters and are capable of influencing vote choices. Although candidates have some control over their utterances, questions, usually asked by journalists, have a strong influence on the topics candidates can address. It is fashionable to criticize the questions posed by journalists in these "joint press conferences." This study adds a new twist to media agenda-setting, providing empirical evidence on the question of whether voters' issue interests influence the topics of journalists' questions. Results show that the questions asked by journalists in debates do not reflect the public interest. We recommend that future debates eschew the use of journalists as sources of questions for presidential debates.
KEY CONCEPTS: presidential debates, questions, public interest, issues
Presidential debates are without question an important component of the modern presidential campaign. Although a hiatus occurred for three campaigns (1964,1968, and 1972), debates have become an expected part of the race for the presidency (Denton & Woodward, 1990; Friedenberg, 1994). Because elections essentially reduce to a choice between two (or three) principal candidates, debates are a chance for voters to learn about, and compare, the leading candidates' issue positions. Presidential debates provide citizens a chance to watch the key contenders side by side, addressing the same questions (Benoit, Blaney, & Pier, 1998). Jamieson (1987) noted that "As messages running an hour or longer, debates offer a level of contact with candidates clearly unmatched in spot ads and news segments... The debates offer the most extensive and serious view of the candidates available to the electorate" (p. 28). Presidential debates offer voters an important opportunity to compare the key candidates.
Debates traditionally attract more viewers than other campaign messages (Jamieson & Birdsell, 1988). Carlin (1994) developed a strong argument concerning the audiences for presidential debates:
Nielson (1993) reported that the second presidential debate in 1992 attracted 43.1 million television households or 69.9 million viewers. . . (p. 4). Those numbers contrast sharply to the 4.1 million homes or 20.5 million viewers who tuned in for each of the major party conventions (p. 1). In 1980, nearly 81 million people watched Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter in their only debate encounter (p. 4). Miller...