It's been a decade of no-shows, rules lawyering, and bad faith on the debate stage for the GOP. To the point where they forgot how to actually do the damn thing.
That's because the GOP ironically understood the science behind debates; the human response to debates is incredibly illogical. Harvard did a study and they found that debates does not have any significant effect on any group in terms of who they vote for.Â
You aren't going to change people's vote through a debate, they'll think their guy won.
So what use is it? Jazzing up your own base. You go up there with a big performance and try to convince your base that the other guy is the big bad wolf. You're not trying to convert votes You're trying to get 100% voter turnout from your own base. And for that who wins and loses doesnt matter, they'll think you won regardlessÂ
ETA people are bringing up Biden and I don't feel like responding individually. 2 things. 1. They are talking about under normal circumstances debates don't flip votes. Obviously you could imagine an extreme circumstance that would for example if your rode in nude on a donkey and flipped the audience the bird that would probably do it.Â
Biden's debate changed things because it made him seem off (or however you would like to term it). It had nothing to do with the debate itself the same effect would have been had if his own ad made him seem impaired or an interview etc. So I'm not really sure it's fair to say the debate convinced people of that, it was a whole separate thing.Â
Exactly. Debate is an academic exercise and hardly anyone is ever swayed to change their mind based on one. That's why academic debate has so many rules - because almost every "fallacy" that breaks those rules is actually emotionally persuasive.
Yeah, The only time those style of debates really matter is when audience members don't have firm opinions yet.
Eta well matter for changing people's minds. There is value in learning to think critically imho but we're a dumb animal and the vast majority of us don't change our opinions based on superior evidence
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u/Chillow_Ufgreat 1d ago
It's been a decade of no-shows, rules lawyering, and bad faith on the debate stage for the GOP. To the point where they forgot how to actually do the damn thing.