Presidential Debates: The Challenge of Creating an Informed Electorate - Hardcover

Jamieson, Kathleen Hall

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 019505539X ISBN 13: 9780195055399

Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc, 1988

Synopsis

American presidential debates have traditionally created mixed reviews. Advocates have praised the debates as a way of making issues more central to the campaign, however others have criticized them as little more than joint press conferences. How important are these debates? Do they really test knowledge and vision? Do they sort good ideas from bad, or reveal important character traits? In short, do they provide American voters with what they need to know to choose a President? The authors address these questions and place contemporary debates in their cultural and historical context, tracing their origins and development in the American political system from the 18th century to the present.

About this title

About the Author

About the Authors:

Kathleen Hall Jamieson is the G.B. Dealey Professor of Communication at the University of Texas, Austin. She has written two other books on political discourse--Packaging the Presidency andEloquence in an Electronic Age--and has served on the 20th-Century Fund's Taskforce on Presidential Debates.David S. Birdsell is Assistant Professor at Baruch College and consultant to the Congressional Management Foundation.

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc
• Publication date: 1988
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 019505539X
• ISBN 13: 9780195055399
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 272