Footnote:
Nach Informationen von SSRN wurde die ursprüngliche Fassung des Dokuments 2010 erstellt
Description:
Given that US-style televised debates were held for the third time in a row in a German federal election campaign, it seems fair to say that they have become institutionalized features of German campaigns. Although a number of studies have analyzed (single) German debates, comparative work covering the full set of debates is still lacking. Within this paper, our aim is to reveal patterns and trends in a) debate exposure, b) the evaluation of the candidates' debate performances and c) debate effects. To do so, we analyse a pooled data set for the 2002, 2005 and 2009 debates. We find consistent evidence that cognitive as well as partisan mobilization increases the probability of watching debates. Concerning the impact of debates, we find that debate exposure has a mobilizing effect – specially among people less interested in politics. In addition, we find a considerable impact of debates on party choice – with the effects reflecting patterns of ‘reinforcement' as well as ‘conversion'. The largest debate effects can be observed for independent voters. Given these results, televised debates are not only institutionalized features of German campaigns, but also powerful and hence possibly decisive ones