I wonder if the “so few actually answer the questions” is a result of too short of a time for response? Obviously they can’t give the floor for 5 mins for one question but…
Right…with 12 people, how can any one substantively answer any questions before the buzzer goes off?
@doschicos yes, I could align with a party if i wanted to…so I could vote in the primary. But I’m not going to do that.
Too many candidates at this point for a debate to hold my interest or really inform me about their policy proposals. There’ll be plenty of coverage by print, tv and internet post-debate for me to know what happened.
Yes, it is. ?
I watch until I start talking to the TV. I would love format where it’s all multiple choice answers and the candidates have to answer one in plain english.
I think there are arguments for and against independent voting in primaries, but I think that for many reasons, I am okay with you committing to one party or the other for a primary. You can always change back again.
As for the actual question, I try to listen to as many debates as I can. It’s a chance to see how nimble on their feet a candidate is. I am now strongly against a candidate I was formally merely lukewarm about, and pretty strongly for a candidate I was less sure about originally.
I rarely turn on the TV. But I DO watch the debates. I like to follow this topic and be informed.
I’m like @doschicos, I’ll be watching. I’m lucky that my state has an open primary.
I completely agree. I also watch the debates, but most elections, my favorite is eliminated before I get a chance to vote. I wish the primaries would be held on the same day across the entire country.
No, I won’t watch.
I am not a fan of the debate format.
IMO it’s not as substantive as I would like & strikes me as politics-as-entertainment.
When I want to learn more about a candidate, I look at the candidate’s IG account, campaign web site, and search for long interviews on podcasts.
I do watch. I think some don’t answer the question because they have prepared something they want to say and they disregard the question. That practice bothers me.
This round I’ve found interesting as there are so many candidates I knew nothing about. I had a clear favorite early on and the debates have changed my opinion.
Do your kids watch? Two of mine do not. One knows basically nothing about politics, another a bit and the third won’t watch but does follow issues on Reddit and twitter.
Amen to this! And I wish we would shorten the whole process so campaigning wasn’t so tied to raising or having money.
Both my young adult children watch and have opinions on politics.
Good point!
I agree that by the time it’s my turn to vote, the primary is, for the most part, decided. No like.
A couple comments:
I understand those that don’t watch because they prefer a deeper dive into a candidate through their website, social media, podcasts, etc. - but I do think that for a good portion of Americans they ARE going to use the debates as their information point. Yes? No?
All 3 of mine watch - and we will have a texting conversation going on here and there throughout it on our family text thread.
What’s more exciting than watching a bunch of old people argue?
S1 usually watches. S2 only watches if he has to for work. He’s a policy analyst and gets his info from primary sources anyway.
We watch, though not necessarily every minute of every one. The weekday schedule means sometimes the teenager is still in rehearsal or at a lecture…and sometimes it is hard for me to stay up if it goes until 11 pm or so. (Alarm goes off at 6:15 am at Casa BookLvr.)
do not watch the debates, as California has always been one of the last primaries, so learning about lower-ranked candidates doesn’t matter. For example, back in '16, Hillary (and Trump) by then had such a dominant lead in the State, one could vote for the winner or a protest vote; no knowledge required as there was no real contest by June.
OTOH, I do like search for ‘who won the debates?’ the next day and then read the talking-head analyses from different perspectives (both right and left).
This year, the CA primary has moved up to March, so the second tier candidates should get some love after the herd gets culled with the pretenders dropping out and some remaining contenders on life-support.
I watch the debates to get a read on things that you can’t glean from websites, social media, etc. I like to read about policy online but in the debates, you can get a sense of oratory skills, nimbleness, ability to think quickly on one’s feet, poise, etc.
Quite a few aren’t old at all.