Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Maybe The Debates WON'T Matter?

I thought the debates had the potential to really alter the race. But this post political scientist Tom Holbrook surprises me:
... the norm is for very little swing in candidate support following debates. Across all thirteen presidential debates the average absolute change in candidate support was 1 percentage point. There are a few notable exceptions, of course. Two that stand out are the second debate in 1992, following which George H.W. Bush lost 2 points, and first debate of 2004, after which George W. bush lost 2.26 points. Other debates with above average ( but still small) vote shifts are the first debate in 1996 and the second debates in 1988 and 2000.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

What about Nixon vs. Kennedy debate?

Isn't it true that the candidates only have something to lose in the debates vs. to gain?