Ngelmish wrote:Valrifell wrote:
That's not strictly true, as most respondents agreed that Clinton performed better than the Donald in the US televised debates (IIRC). Donald Trump isn't exactly a... gifted debater, if you recall and while Joe Biden is certainly less than eloquent most of the time, he's more than capable of holding his own on the stage with Trump. I'd wager most politicians are, actually. Especially now that he's a known quantity now.
Nevertheless the importance of the debates in the online age, I feel, is waning. Most people will settle for clips that can be tailored to suit a narrative, so it's about those viral quotes instead of actual engagement. I don't think either candidate will receive a significant move in the polls regardless of outcome.
That's unless nothing disastrous happening like Trump and/or Biden collapsing on stage, foaming at the mouth, and/or rambling incoherently about curtains.
The significance of debates has very rarely been about the actual content from a policy perspective ('76 and especially '60 are outliers in that regard), but the chance for both contenders to project their personalities simultaneously. There's an old truism about Americans gravitating to the more charismatic candidate, but that's not exactly true. What happens is that there's a tendency to vote for whoever is most entertaining to watch on screen. A good example of this is Bush the Elder. Standing next to Mike Dukakis, his self-effacing awkwardness and self deprecatory humor came across as a little funny and rather charming. Next to Bill Clinton, he just seemed passed it and out of touch.
Trump was fundamentally funny to a broad portion of the electorate in ways that may not have had anything to do with policy in 2016 -- but, combine his record with the fact that most people also find Joe Biden to be funny and Trump doesn't have the right foil for this election. That's what the significance of the debates will be. Always assuming, as you say, that there's no mouth foaming on camera.
Reagan was famous for being able to land a joke in one line, too. But you put your finger on something when you say people find Trump funny. I knew he was doing it deliberately but I thought it was just meant to make liberals angry, and that was funny at another level. I wonder how many Democrats voted for him because "oh this will be good"? Likely they stopped being interested much, and unable to support either side now just lost interest in politics.
For that matter, how many basically apolitical people voted for the first time because Trump was the first candidate they had ever found interesting ..?
