Presidential debates are a main feature of present-day presidential campaigns. For voters, they are a source of political learning about candidate issue positions. Fluctuations in the level of debate viewership from election to election and, within an election, from debate to debate invite the following questions: What is the composition of debate audiences? In what ways did the audiences in 2004 differ from 2000? In what ways did the audiences change across debates in a given year? Results from the 2000 and 2004 National Annenberg Election Surveys show that debate audiences in 2004 were larger than in 2000. In both elections, the first debate garnered the most viewers. The data also show that those individuals inclined to watch a debate in its entirety tended to be older, be more educated, have higher incomes, and exhibit higher levels of partisan attachment than those who did not watch the debates.
Abramowitz, A. I. (1978). The impact of a presidential debate on voter rationality. American Journal of Political Science, 22(3), 680-690.
2.
Alexander, H. E., & Margolis, J. (1978). The making of the debates. In G. F. Bishop, R. G. Meadow, & M. Jackson-Beeck (Eds.), The presidential debates: Media, electoral, and policy perspectives (pp. 18-32). New York: Praeger.
3.
American Association for Public Opinion Research. (2004). Standard definitions: Final dispositions of case codes and outcome rates for surveys (3rd ed.). Lenexa, KS: AAPOR.
4.
Barlett, D. L., Drew, P. B., Fahle, E. G., & Watts, W. A. (1974). Selective exposure to a presidential campaign appeal. Public Opinion Quarterly, 38(2), 264-270.
5.
Becker, L. B., Sobowale, I. A., Cobbey, R. E., & Eyal, C. H. (1978). Debates’ effects on voters’ understanding of candidates and issues. In G. F. Bishop, R. G. Meadow, & M. Jackson-Beeck (Eds.), The presidential debates: Media, electoral, and policy perspectives (pp. 126-139). New York: Praeger.
6.
Bennet, J., & Rutenberg, J. (2004, October 15). A television event that delivered high drama and garnered high ratings. The New York Times, p. A20.
7.
Benoit, W. L., & Hansen, G. J. (2004). Presidential debate watching, issue knowledge, character evaluation, and vote choice. Human Communication Research, 30(1), 121-144.
8.
Benoit, W. L., Hansen, G. J., & Verser, R. M. (2003). A meta-analysis of the effects of viewing U.S. presidential debates. Communication Monographs, 70(4), 335-350.
9.
Bimber, B., & Davis, R. (2003). Campaigning online: The internet in U.S. elections. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
10.
Bishop, G. F., Oldendick, R. W., & Tuchfarber, A. J. (1978a). Debate watching and the acquisition of political knowledge. Journal of Communication, 28(4), 99-113.
11.
Bishop, G. F., Oldendick, R. W., & Tuchfarber, A. J. (1978b). The presidential debates as a device for increasing the “rationality” of electoral behavior. In G. F. Bishop, R. G. Meadow, & M. Jackson-Beeck (Eds.), The presidential debates: Media, electoral, and policy perspectives (pp. 179-196). New York: Praeger.
12.
Chaffee, S. H. (1978). Presidential debates: Are they helpful to voters?Communication Monographs, 45, 330-346.
13.
Deutschmann, P. J. (1977). Viewing, conversations, and voting intentions. In S. Kraus (Ed.), The great debates: Kennedy vs. Nixon, 1960, a reissue (pp. 232-252). Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
14.
Graber, D. A. (1978). Problems in measuring audience effects of the 1976 debates. In G. F. Bishop, R. G. Meadow, & M. Jackson-Beeck (Eds.), The presidential debates: Media, electoral, and policy perspectives (pp. 105-125). New York: Praeger.
15.
Hagner, P. R., & Rieselbach, L. N. (1978). The impact of the 1976 presidential debates: Conversion or reinforcement? In G. F. Bishop, R. G. Meadow, & M. Jackson-Beeck (Eds.), The presidential debates: Media, electoral, and policy perspectives (pp. 157-178). New York: Praeger.
16.
Hellweg, S. A., Pfau, M., & Brydon, S. R. (1992). Television presidential debates: Advocacy in contemporary America. New York: Praeger.
17.
Holbert, R. L., Benoit, W. L., Hansen, G. J., & Wen, W.-C. (2002). The role of communication in the formation of an issue-based citizenry. Communication Monographs, 69(4), 296-310.
18.
Holbrook, T. M. (1999). Political learning from presidential debates. Political Behavior, 21(1), 67-89.
19.
Jamieson, K. H., & Adasiewicz, C. (2000). What can voters learn from election debates? In S. Coleman (Ed.), Televised election debates: International perspectives (pp. 25-42). New York: St. Martin’s.
20.
Jamieson, K. H., & Birdsell, D. S. (1988). Presidential debates: The challenge of creating an informed electorate. New York: Oxford University Press.
21.
Katz, E., & Feldman, J. J. (1977). The debates in the light of research: A survey of surveys. In S. Kraus (Ed.), The great debates: Kennedy vs. Nixon, 1960, a reissue (pp. 173-223). Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
22.
Kraus, S. (2000). Televised presidential debates and public policy (2nd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
23.
Lang, K., & Lang, G. E. (1961). Ordeal by debate: Viewer reactions. Public Opinion Quarterly, 25(2), 277-288.
24.
Lang, K., & Lang, G. E. (1977). Reactions from viewers. In S. Kraus (Ed.), The great debates: Kennedy vs. Nixon, 1960, a reissue (pp. 313-330). Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
25.
Lasswell, H. D. (1948). The structure and function of communication in society. In L. Bryson (Ed.), The communication of ideas, a series of addresses (pp. 37-51). Binghamton, NY: Vail-Ballou Press.
26.
Lazarsfeld, P. F., Berelson, B., & Gaudet, H. (1948). The people’s choice: How the voter makes up his mind in a presidential campaign (2nd ed.). New York: Columbia University Press.
27.
McKinney, M. S., & Carlin, D. B. (2004). Political campaign debates. In L. L. Kaid (Ed.), Handbook of political communication research (pp. 203-234). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
28.
Romer, D., Kenski, K., Waldman, P., Adasiewicz, C., & Jamieson, K. H. (2004). Capturing campaign dynamics: The National Annenberg Election Survey. New York: Oxford University Press.
29.
Rutenberg, J. (2000, October 19). The 2000 campaign: The viewers; number of debate viewers rise from the first but remains low. The New York Times, p. A28.
30.
Rutenberg, J. (2004, October 12). Dropoff in debate viewers. The New York Times, p. A22.
31.
Steeper, F. T. (1978). Public response to Gerald Ford’s statements on Eastern Europe in the second debate. In G. F. Bishop, R. G. Meadow, & M. Jackson-Beeck (Eds.), The presidential debates: Media, electoral, and policy perspectives (pp. 81-101). New York: Praeger.
32.
Tsfati, Y. (2003). Debating the debate: The impact of exposure to debate news coverage and its interaction with exposure to the actual debate. Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics, 8(3), 70-86.
33.
Zhu, J.-H., Milavsky, J. R., & Biswas, R. (1994). Do televised debates affect image perception more than issue knowledge? A study of the first 1992 presidential debates. Human Communication Research, 20(3), 302-333.
