Will the first presidential debate tip the election scales?
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The performances in the first presidential debate of the election season may seal the political fate of Gov. Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama on Tuesday, according to a trio of Northeastern University experts in media and politics.
โRomney would owe a victory in Tuesdayโs election in large part to his successful performance in the first debate,โ noted Robert Gilbert, the Edward W. Brooke Professor of Political Science.
โRomney was aggressive and established himself as a leader,โ he said. โObama was articulate, but seemed strangely removed from the environment.โ
Gilbert shared his expertise in presidential politics with students, faculty and staff in a panel discussion last Wednesday afternoon in 220 Shillman Hall. The event also featured remarks by journalism professors Alan Schroeder and Dan Kennedy and was organized by the Department of Political Science as part of its Campaign 2012 Discussion Series.
Schroeder, an expert in televised debates, panned Obamaโs performance as one of the โbiggest debate losses in history,โ but praised Romneyโs business-like approach to winning over undecided voters.
โRomney is at heart a salesman and in the first debate he was out there making a sale,โ Schroeder explained.
โDebates are live TV blockbusters first and serious policy discussions second,โ he added. โThey are tests of temperament and personality and give the audience a chance to judge how candidates would behave under enormous pressure and stress.โ
Kennedy agreed with Schroederโs assessment of the first debate, calling it a โmajor turning pointโ in the presidential election, but questioned whether the mainstream media influenced the publicโs perception of the contestโs outcome.
โLow-information voters form their opinions through the media, not by sitting down to watch a debate for 90 minutes,โ said Kennedy, an expert in news reporting and analysis.
He noticed a change in the way the mainstream media characterized Romney after the Republican candidateโs strong showing in the first debate. โThe media stopped mocking him as a sure loser,โ Kennedy said. โI think the mainstream media tend to find there is a higher price to pay for going after Republican candidates when the right-wing noise machine is pushing back,โ he added.
Schroeder noted social mediaโs โpotentially dangerousโ influence on debate coverage. Referencing an article in The Washington Post, he said, โJournalists werenโt watching the debates. They were watching what their colleagues were writing on Twitter and reinforcing their conclusions.โ