There is no use denying the fact that in the modern world, policy plays a significant role. The development of democracy influenced the evolution of this issue, making the existence of different points of view on the same issue possible. Moreover, according to its main principles, incoherent society, people are the main source of power, and it is for them to choose the course in which a country should develop. That is why politicians determine the destiny of a country, trying to persuade people in the necessity of actions which they promote. To be a politician means having great power concentrated in a persons hands.
Especially topical this statement becomes when talking about the President as there is no other American office more powerful than the presidency1. To take up this post, a candidate should obtain support from the majority of the population. That is why such an issue as presidential debates exist. Its main aim is to influence people and affect attitude reinforcement. Under these conditions, such issues as political interests and motivation become very important because they influence the formation of public opinion.
However, it should be said that trying to find good arguments and solutions to serious problems which exist in society at the moment2, candidates, at the same time, try to affect, but not to inform people3.Usually, this kind of dialogue between different politicians is organized in a way that attracts the attention of a great number of people. There are several reasons for this practice. First of all, it is obvious that in this way, politicians try to spread their influence.
Very often, debates draw respectable audience so that many people undergo a considerable impact of the discussions which take place between candidates4. It becomes obvious that the bigger the audience is, the better results can be achieved. That is why it should be remembered that candidates are usually motivated to gain results, and everyone, who is engaged in presidential debates, should keep it in mind.
Besides, it is obvious that political interests, motivations, and opinions are united around the issue of debates, however, very often, it can be difficult to understand in which way these notions interact with each other and how presidential debates take them into account. It has been stated that the issue of debates is a very powerful remedy which can influence formation of public opinion5, however, debates are still not able to affect every member of society. Under these conditions, opinion reinforcement becomes a very significant issue6. Additionally, the slightest changes of this phenomena can help to understand peculiarities of political communication and public opinion formation better 7.
That is why, talking about presidential debates, it is vital to realize who become affected by them and how they influence attitude reinforcement. To investigate this issue better it is possible to analyze the main concepts and suggestions given in Mullinix’s article.
The given work suggests several ways in which the issue of political debates, interests and the whole political process can be analyzed. The author is sure that to understand the given issue better it is necessary to obtain the main ideas of the previous debates and analyze them. That is why, he suggests his own critical evaluation of past studies connected with the issue. Moreover, past debates, their influence on people, argumentation and the ways in which they influence people are also investigated. This evaluation of argumentation, as a mean to persuade people8,motivation with its effects on debates and attitude responses in particular9 helps to identify strong and weak sides of presidential debates and understand the whole concept better.
The given Mullinixs investigation centers around several important issues which should be touched while talking about presidential debates and political interest in general. These issues are presidential debates, partisan motivation, political interest, opinion reinforcement, heterogeneity of effects, presidential campaign and polarization.
The author outlines great importance of these notions and tends to show that realization and understanding of the main sense of these elements can help a person to evaluate the whole political process and be able to recognize the main factors which influence formation of political interest and opinion among people. However, it should also be stated that all these notions are investigated within the framework of presidential debates which are the main topic of Mullinixs work.
The author of the article chooses presidential debates between Obama and McCain which took place in 2008 as the case for his research. This variant seems to be an ideal choice because of some significant peculiarities of the process. First of all, these debates were between representatives of different parties as Obama was Democrat while McCain was Republican. Additionally, there were no racial prejudices between candidates as they were representatives of different nations. With this in mind, it is possible to say that people had an excellent opportunity to evaluate the main ideas of these candidates.
Being perfectly motivated, both Obama and McCain tried to persuade people in their rectitude. Time was perfectly chosen and, moreover, great number of different means of media highlighted this process so people were able to follow debates and create their opinion. It is obvious that debates are the part of elections and they help people to obtain information about the candidates10.
In the course of investigation the author comes to conclusion that debates are very important issue which influences formation of public opinion greatly. Moreover, people, who have strong political interest, are more affected by debates and their impression after the debates depends on their beliefs and political preferences. It is also necessary to admit that political interests and opinions define the quality of debates and people should demonstrate and use them in a proper way11.
The given study helps to realize some important facts connected with the issue of debates. It is possible to say that policy nowadays is a kind of activity which influences the life of people greatly. Moreover, presidency is the most influential office in the USA and candidates, who want to become the President, devote much time and efforts to presidential debates, trying to influence people’s opinion. Additionally, it becomes obvious that motivation is a very important factor in elections and this kind of debates.
Having analyzed the issue of presidential debates and political interests, it is possible to make a certain conclusion. It should be said that people evaluate candidates using their own principles and knowledge, still, some of them may suffer from such concepts like reinforcement and polarization in case they are poorly understood. There is a great number of ways in which debates could be improved, though these ways still demand clear explanations.
Bibliography
Campbell, James. The American campaign, second edition: U.S. presidential campaigns and the national vote. College Station, Texas: A&M University Press, 2008. Web.
Federico, Christopher. “How people organize their political attitudes: The roles of ideology, expertise, and evaluative motivation“. American Psychological Association. 2009. Web.
Freeley, Austeen, and David Steinberg. Argumentation and debate. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning, 2013. Web.
Garrett, Kelly. “Politically motivated reinforcement seeking: Reframing the selective exposure debate”. Journal of Communication 59, no. 4 (2009): 676-699. Web.
Huber, Gregory, and Kevin Arceneaux. “Identifying the persuasive effects of presidential advertising”. American Journal of Political Science 51, no. 4 (2007): 957-977. Web.
Kalemaj, Silvana. “Argumentation in contemporary persuasive discourse”. European Scientific Journal 10, no. 11 (2014): 77-87. Web.
Kirk, Rita, and Dan Schill. “A digital agora: Citizen participation in the 2008 presidential debates”. American Behavioral Scientist 55, no. 3 (2011): 325-347. Web.
Kraus, Sidney. Televised presidential debates and public policy. Mahwah, NJ: Routledge, 2013. Web.
Mullinix, Kevin. “Presidential debates, partisan motivations, and political interest”. Presidential Studies Quarterly 45, no. 2 (2015): 270-289. Web.
Schwartz, John. “Whom to trust with a thumb on the buzzer“. The New York Times. 2008. Web.
Valentino, Nicolas, Hutchings, Vincent, Banks, Antoine, and Anne Davis. “Is a worried citizen a good citizen? Emotions, political information seeking, and learning via the Internet”. Political Psychology 29, no. 2 (2008): 247-273. Web.
Footnotes
- James Campbell, The American campaign, second edition: U.S. presidential campaigns and the national vote. (Texas: A&M University Press, 2008), 24. Web.
- Austeen Freeley and David Steinberg. Argumentation and debate. (Boston, MA: Cengage Learning, 2013), 78. Web.
- Gregory Huber and Kevin Arceneaux, “Identifying the persuasive effects of presidential advertising”, American Journal of Political Science 51, no. 4 (2007): 960. Web.
- John Schwartz, “Whom to trust with a thumb on the buzzer”, The New York Times. 2008. Web.
- Sidney Kraus, Televised presidential debates and public policy. (Mahwah, NJ: Routledge, 2013), 112. Web.
- Kelly, Garrett, “Politically motivated reinforcement seeking: Reframing the selective exposure debate”, Journal of Communication 59, no. 4 (2009): 681. Web.
- Kevin, Mullinix, “Presidential debates, partisan motivations, and political interest”, Presidential Studies Quarterly 45, no. 2 (2015): 278. Web.
- Silvana Kalemaj, “Argumentation in contemporary persuasive discourse”, European Scientific Journal 10, no. 11 (2014): 81. Web.
- Christopher Federico, “How people organize their political attitudes: The roles of ideology, expertise, and evaluative motivation”, American Psychological Association. Web.
- Nicolas Valentino, Vincent Hutchings, Antoine Banks and Anne Davis, “Is a worried citizen a good citizen? Emotions, political information seeking, and learning via the Internet”, Political Psychology 29, no. 2 (2008): 262. Web.
- Ibid., 265.