Learning About the Candidates: The 1976 Presidential Debates

In this study of the 1976 televised Carter-Ford debates, the authors find that the debates produced a heightened political awareness in viewers in the critical days just prior to the election. The information obtained from the debates focused largely on candidate competence, performance and personality attributes rather than on issues, but some increase in information on issues and policies can be linked to the debates. The major impact of the debates may have been to reinforce partisan predispositions. Arthur H. Miller is a Senior Study Director at the Center for Political Studies, Institute for Social Research, and Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Michigan. Michael MacKuen is an Assistant Professor of Political Science, Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.