TY - JOUR
T1 - The effects of tone, focus, and incivility in election debates
AU - Hopmann, David Nicolas
AU - Vliegenthart, Rens
AU - Maier, Jürgen
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017, © 2017 Elections, Public Opinion & Parties.
PY - 2018/7/3
Y1 - 2018/7/3
N2 - Previous research has found mixed evidence for the effectiveness of negative campaigning. Therefore, scholars have recently turned their attention to the question whether there are different dimensions of negativity. The present study contributes both empirically and methodologically to this debate by investigating the effects of three German chancellor debates using real-time response measurements of audience reactions. Following Brooks and Geer (2007. “Beyond Negativity: The Effects of Incivility on the Electorate.” American Journal of Political Science 51 (1): 1–16. doi:10.1111/j.1540-5907.2007.00233.x), we distinguish between debate statements along three different dimensions: negative versus positive tone, policy- versus person-focus, and civility versus incivility. Also, we demonstrate how debate content and real-time response measurements of audience reactions can be analysed using econometric time-series techniques. Our analyses show that civil policy-focused statements have a positive impact, as expected, while person-focused or uncivil statements rarely have positive effects. In the concluding section, the implications of our findings are discussed and directions for further research identified.
AB - Previous research has found mixed evidence for the effectiveness of negative campaigning. Therefore, scholars have recently turned their attention to the question whether there are different dimensions of negativity. The present study contributes both empirically and methodologically to this debate by investigating the effects of three German chancellor debates using real-time response measurements of audience reactions. Following Brooks and Geer (2007. “Beyond Negativity: The Effects of Incivility on the Electorate.” American Journal of Political Science 51 (1): 1–16. doi:10.1111/j.1540-5907.2007.00233.x), we distinguish between debate statements along three different dimensions: negative versus positive tone, policy- versus person-focus, and civility versus incivility. Also, we demonstrate how debate content and real-time response measurements of audience reactions can be analysed using econometric time-series techniques. Our analyses show that civil policy-focused statements have a positive impact, as expected, while person-focused or uncivil statements rarely have positive effects. In the concluding section, the implications of our findings are discussed and directions for further research identified.
U2 - 10.1080/17457289.2017.1394310
DO - 10.1080/17457289.2017.1394310
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85033731996
VL - 28
SP - 283
EP - 306
JO - Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties
JF - Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties
SN - 1745-7289
IS - 3
ER -