2008 Woodie Awards
Professors write book on politics
Authors explore behaviors within presidential debates
By: Samantha Gasco
Issue date: 2/27/08 Section: News
The most successful debates are those in which candidates focus more on policy issues and less on personal attacks, experts say.
That was the main observation of communications and dramatic arts professor Ed Hinck, who wrote a book with two other communications and dramatic arts professors concerning behavior during political debates.
"Politeness in Presidential Debates: Shaping Political Debates from 1960 to 2004" by Bill Dailey, Shelly Hinck and Ed Hinck, investigate what presidential candidates said in debates and how their communication choices have affected the outcome.
"We've found that when a candidate makes a personal attack on another during a debate, it actually has a negative effect on them in the long run," Ed Hinck said.
He said the idea for the book came after studying the politeness theory in the 2000 and 2004 elections. The professors then surveyed students' responses to the debates.
After drawing conclusions regarding the effects of politeness, Ed Hinck said the group reviewed transcripts of 92 presidential debates from 1960 through 2004.
"We really went in blind with this research project," Dailey said. "We didn't expect to find anything, but the results are very intriguing."
Dailey said since the 1960s, personal attacks have gone up and indirect attacks on policy have gone down about 30 percent.
"Personal attacks are risky business," he said. "But as presidential races get tighter, they've also shown to get meaner."
Ed Hinck said debate tactics also can be thrown off by the mediator, who can throw in personal questions.
Personal attacks seem to be more common when there is not an incumbent candidate in the race, Dailey said. Challengers who were policy debaters won rather than those who attacked presidential incumbents personally.
"We found that when challengers throw personal attacks on incumbents, the public often perceives it as criticizing the character of the president," he said.
Although there is no incumbent for the 2008 election, Daily said the candidates, especially the Democrats, need to be careful with their debate tactics. He said lately, Sen. Hillary Clinton has been playing a personal game - and in the end, it may destroy her presidential character.
Daily and Ed Hinck predict Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain to win the final presidential nomination.
"It will be hard to attack McCain's personal character, so it will be critical for Obama to bring the message of political policy issues during the final debates," Hinck said.
The book is available through several online locations, including amazon.com.
news@cm-life.com
That was the main observation of communications and dramatic arts professor Ed Hinck, who wrote a book with two other communications and dramatic arts professors concerning behavior during political debates.
"Politeness in Presidential Debates: Shaping Political Debates from 1960 to 2004" by Bill Dailey, Shelly Hinck and Ed Hinck, investigate what presidential candidates said in debates and how their communication choices have affected the outcome.
"We've found that when a candidate makes a personal attack on another during a debate, it actually has a negative effect on them in the long run," Ed Hinck said.
He said the idea for the book came after studying the politeness theory in the 2000 and 2004 elections. The professors then surveyed students' responses to the debates.
After drawing conclusions regarding the effects of politeness, Ed Hinck said the group reviewed transcripts of 92 presidential debates from 1960 through 2004.
"We really went in blind with this research project," Dailey said. "We didn't expect to find anything, but the results are very intriguing."
Dailey said since the 1960s, personal attacks have gone up and indirect attacks on policy have gone down about 30 percent.
"Personal attacks are risky business," he said. "But as presidential races get tighter, they've also shown to get meaner."
Ed Hinck said debate tactics also can be thrown off by the mediator, who can throw in personal questions.
Personal attacks seem to be more common when there is not an incumbent candidate in the race, Dailey said. Challengers who were policy debaters won rather than those who attacked presidential incumbents personally.
"We found that when challengers throw personal attacks on incumbents, the public often perceives it as criticizing the character of the president," he said.
Although there is no incumbent for the 2008 election, Daily said the candidates, especially the Democrats, need to be careful with their debate tactics. He said lately, Sen. Hillary Clinton has been playing a personal game - and in the end, it may destroy her presidential character.
Daily and Ed Hinck predict Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain to win the final presidential nomination.
"It will be hard to attack McCain's personal character, so it will be critical for Obama to bring the message of political policy issues during the final debates," Hinck said.
The book is available through several online locations, including amazon.com.
news@cm-life.com
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