Verbal and nonverbal modality effects on impressions of political candidates: Analysis from the 1984 presidential debates

Two experiments examined the role of presentation modality in evaluations of Ronald Reagan and Walter Mondale during the second Presidential debate in the 1984 campaign. In the first experiment, 219 subjects were presented selected segments from the debate in one of four following conditions: (1) audiovisual, (2) visual only, (3) audio only, or (4) text. Although Reagan was rated more favorably than Mondale in all of the conditions, Reagan's advantage was greatest in the visual modality. The second experiment (n = 64) examined the role of judgments of expressiveness and physical attractiveness as potential mediators of the visual modality advantage of Reagan. Results showed that rated expressiveness and physical attractiveness differences between the candidates were maximized in the visual modality condition, primarily due to Mondale being rated as less expressive and less physically attractive. Analysis of behavioral differences between the candidates revealed that Mondale blinked more frequently and had significantly fewer gaze changes and head movements than Reagan. Implications of the visual modality effect for real world evaluations of political candidates are discussed.