Political debate is a conversation between people with different viewpoints about politics, policies, and ideologies. Historically, political debate has played an important role in elections, shaping public opinion and influencing policy decisions. Debates often take the form of a question-and-answer format.
In the United States, the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) sponsors debates during general election campaigns. Its rules stipulate that a candidate must have a statistically feasible chance of winning at least 270 electoral votes to qualify for participation in the debates. To maximize the effectiveness of these civic education events, the CPD has adopted a variety of formats over the years to encourage interaction and dialogue and promote citizen participation.
The debate format influences the nature of the conversations that follow, including how they are framed and how participants feel about them. The debate structure and format also influences how people think about the issues being discussed in a political debate. Despite the widespread perception of these conversations as being destructive, research shows that productive conversations can lead to positive outcomes for citizens.
However, heightened political polarization and misperceptions about how frequently political debate occurs may make it seem psychologically costly, contributing to feelings of hopelessness that can undermine a person’s motivation to participate in democracy. This is the finding of a new study, published in Nature, led by Modupe Akinola, the Barbara and David Zalaznick Professor of Business at Columbia Business School. In a series of lab and online experiments, researchers found that the most productive political debates involve high levels of disagreement and controversy.