ABSTRACT
Televised presidential debates are moments of heightened focus in modern elections, routinely drawing audiences in the tens of millions. Indeed, the first debate between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney in 2012 was seen by over 70 million viewers (Stelter, 2012). Beyond domestic viewership, the 2012 U.S. presidential debates received news coverage globally, and televised political debates between the major candidates for high office are now becoming commonplace the world over (Schroeder, 2008). To say in a contemporary political context of close elections and contentious partisanship that the presidential debates are a vital element of the campaign would be an understatement (see Holbert, LaMarre & Landreville, 2009).
