Courting the Swing Voter: "Real Time" Insights Into the 2008 and 2012 U.S. Presidential Debates
Published online on October 17, 2013
Abstract
This essay reports the results of an analysis of undecided swing state voters during the six presidential debates of the 2008 and 2012 elections. Combining Real Time Response with a pretest-posttest design, the researchers identify the overall impact of the debates on undecided voters, both successful and unsuccessful message strategies, and changes in the overall perception of the candidates.