Political debate reflects democracy’s ideals and empowers people to seek out and understand their fellow citizens’ views, experiences and interests. Unlike the short-term, partisan focus of many other forms of political engagement, debates allow people to talk about the complex issues they care about in a way that’s long-form and thoughtful. In debates, voters learn about the challenges they face and the choices that must be made to meet those challenges. They also learn more about the perspectives and values of those running for office.
However, debates are not always successful. The in-person audience at a debate is often too large to hear the candidates clearly, and the laughter or cheers can magnify moments and distract from substantive exchanges. The in-person audience can also create a hostile atmosphere that detracts from the quality of discussion.
The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) carefully weighs many factors when deciding which candidates should be invited to debate. It considers public opinion polling, the need to avoid scheduling conflicts with early voting, religious and federal holidays, and White House television pool contractual obligations when determining which candidates will participate. The CPD also uses a threshold of 15% support as the cutoff for invitations to ensure debates include a diverse range of candidates that have an opportunity to be heard by their potential constituents.
In addition to balancing the needs of various stakeholders, the CPD must also make sure that debates are well-produced and accessible to the tens of millions of viewers who tune in to watch. The Working Group has recommended a number of reforms designed to improve debates. These include a format change that gives candidates equal time to answer each question; a new approach to moderating that avoids the press’ “follow up” pursuit that leads to questions designed to advance a particular news agenda; and a new approach to dividing up debate topics that prevents the use of time consuming, unanswered and unfocused rebuttals.
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