It seems like every election cycle we sit in front of the television anxiously awaiting the Presidential debates. As Americans, we have a long history of Presidential debates that include the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858 and the Kennedy-Nixon debates of 1960. The Lincoln-Douglas debates changed the way people thought about listening to their political leaders but the Kennedy-Nixon debates changed the way the American people thought about watching and listening to their leaders running for the Presidency.
The real question is whether the debates really matter? I would argue that YES, they do matter. The Kennedy-Nixon debate was the perfect example of this because for the first time, Americans watched the Presidential debates on television. When asked who won the debate, the people that listened to it on the radio thought that Richard Nixon won or tied and the people who watched the debate on television overwhelmingly thought that John F. Kennedy had won. What could have been the reason for this? It is a well know fact that Kennedy wore make-up for the debate but Nixon had refused. Under the hot lights of the sound stage, Nixon sat there sweating and looking uncomfortable. Kennedy had seemed young and vibrant and Nixon seemed old and tense. After this first debate, Kennedy gained the momentum and later went on to win the Presidency.
In the current Presidential cycle we have a choice between two candidates and often, these debates are the only place that people will get to see where the candidates stand on the issues. In recent polls, more Americans said that they believe that Senator Barack Obama appeared more Presidential in the debates thus far. According to the non-partisan polling projection web site fivethirtyeight.com, since the first debate on September 26th, Senator Obama has continued to rise in the polls. Because perception is so important to the American people and because of the similarities to the Kennedy-Nixon debates, I believe that Senator Obama will continue to look Presidential in the third and final debate on October 15th and go on to win the Presidency.
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In the current Presidential cycle we have a choice between two candidates....
Sorry Skaggs, but that is the whole problem with these Presidential debates. There is Ralph Nader, Bob Barr, Cynthia McKinney, Chuck Baldwin, and Alan Keyes who also should have an equal say in answering policy questions to the American public. For the US to have a real democracy, we must begin to realize that playing field is not level. Third party candidates should have just an equal opportunity to address the American public with their views on how the country should be ran. But to answer the question, I do think debates matter, as long as the let all the kids in the playground play their game.
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