A Tale of Two Debates: How Citizens Navigated a Particularly Stormy Period of a Turbulent Presidential Election
Abstract
Three waves of a national probability-based panel survey of U.S. adults are used to assess citizens’ perceptions of the 2024 debates. A new measure of debate-generated consonance–dissonance, consisting of a combination of predebate candidate support and candidate performance perceptions, is introduced. Experiential and instrumental attitudes toward the Harris–Trump debate, along with perceptions of debate exposure affecting vote likelihood, are the study’s dependent variables. Results show the dissonance generated by Biden’s June 27th debate performance having a sizable impact on perceptions of the importance of the Harris–Trump debate, and attitudes toward the Harris–Trump debate predict vote likelihood perceptions.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Electoral Systems and Political Participation
Media Influence and Politics
Opinion Dynamics and Social Influence
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media
- Volume
- 70
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 137–153
- Publication date
- 2 January 2026
- Language
- EN