A verbal and visual analysis of the 1980 Houston republican presidential primary debate

This article provides a verbal and visual content analysis of the 1980 Houston primary debate between Ronald Reagan and George Bush. A number of verbal factors are examined relating to message unequivocality, message ambiguity, and message reasoning strategies. In addition, various visual characteristics associated with the debate are reviewed, some presumably under the control of the candidates and others under the control of the broadcast crew. Results of the analysis are given, as well as recommendations for future research.