sed debates in presidential campaigns is that voters want them. Voters find something in televised debates that confirms their previously held support for a candidate or helps them to decide whom to support. So television debates are now part of the political landscape. However, one expert has written that, even after the Bush-Dukakis debate, thus making four campaigns in a row to include debates, he would not predict continuation: "there are too many points at which disagreement might scuttle the whole plan" (Mickelson, 1989, p. 164). Stephen Hess in his book, The Presidential Campaign, observes that:
While some contend that televised debates of 1960 and 1976 elected John Kennedy and Jimmy Carter, those elections were so close that any single factor - including debates - could have been said to have made the difference (Hess, 1988, p. 76).
...