If you spend much time scrolling through social media, it feels like America is in a constant state of conflict. Off-hand remarks spark fierce screaming matches and partisanship is high, with trust in institutions low. As a result, many people have lost faith in political debate as a tool for solving the country’s problems.
But, as we’ve seen in the past, political debates have the potential to be incredibly productive, if they are conducted in an environment where both parties engage in civil conversation rather than in a vicious circle of attacking one another’s character or policies. And in a new study, researchers from Berkeley Haas’ Department of Economics have found that political debate can actually improve citizens’ perception of their nation and its leaders.
Political debates are often a good way for voters to learn more about candidates, especially when the contest is for a presidential election or national elections for members of parliament in countries with multiparty systems. For these types of elections, the organization staging the debate is required to select candidates based on pre-established objective criteria that cannot include nomination by a particular party.
These criteria generally focus on the candidates’ familiarity with the major issues in the campaign and their knowledge of their opponents’ positions. The CPD also establishes nonpartisan standards for debate moderators and requires that they be journalists with extensive experience in live television broadcast news. The debates’ questions are selected by the moderators, who do not consult with the candidates or their campaigns, and debate organizers are required to limit the total amount of time allocated to each candidate’s answers.
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