WASHINGTON — Tuesday’s presidential debate between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden had 73.1 million viewers across all platforms, according to Nielsen ratings. But some researchers say those viewers already had made up their minds on who they will vote for on Nov. 3.
Dom Caristi, a telecommunications professor at Ball State University, said that most viewers are simply looking for validation that they made the correct choice.
“I was confident that there was nothing they would do that would change my voting decision,” Caristi said, so he didn’t watch the debate live.
According to a Sept. 23 poll released by Quinnipiac University, 94% of likely voters who already had selected a candidate for president say their minds are made up, while 5% percent say they might change their minds.
Vincent Pons, an associate professor at Harvard Business School, also said that “it doesn’t seem that debates matter.”
In 2016, Pons talked with voters before and after the debates and he said he didn’t find any effect. Through his research, Pons has found that interacting with people who represent national campaigns on a local level and having conversations with friends and family have a bigger impact on whether voters go to the polls and who they choose.
The first debate of the 2020 election certainly gave people topics to talk about, including Trump’s refusal to denounce white supremacy and one-liners like, “Would you shut up. man?” from Biden.
But the chaos and lack of substantive debate doesn’t mean there is nothing to take away from Trump’s and Biden’s performances. Patrick Stewart, an associate professor of political science at the University of Arkansas, said that each candidate has a unique way of reacting to attacks. Trump often purses his lips together or attempts to make himself bigger while Biden laughs when he wants to move away from a topic.
Overall, Stewart said, Trump presented a more aggressive persona by interrupting, which could appeal more to young men. Biden chose to display empathy in moments when he spoke directly to the camera which may appeal more to female voters, but it is likely those moments are just reaffirming their previous opinions of the candidates.