Presidential Debates and Electoral Preferences in Weakly Institutionalised Democracies: Evidence From 32 Latin American Elections
Previous research has shown that presidential debates have “minimal effects” on aggregate electoral preferences because they mainly reinforce people's pre-existing political preferences. However, most of what we know about the behavioural effects of debates comes from research conducted in the...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SAGE Publishing
2023-12-01
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| Series: | Journal of Politics in Latin America |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/1866802X231213668 |
| _version_ | 1797511102369628160 |
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| author | Francisco Cantú Miguel Carreras |
| author_facet | Francisco Cantú Miguel Carreras |
| author_sort | Francisco Cantú |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Previous research has shown that presidential debates have “minimal effects” on aggregate electoral preferences because they mainly reinforce people's pre-existing political preferences. However, most of what we know about the behavioural effects of debates comes from research conducted in the United States and other institutionalised democracies. We re-evaluate the effects of debates on electoral preferences by focusing on Latin American elections. Given higher levels of electoral volatility, weaker partisan brands, lower partisanship, and more personalised voter linkages, we expect that debates play a significant role in shaping vote choice in Latin America. We test these expectations by conducting an analysis of presidential debates on aggregated vote preferences in thirty-two elections across fourteen Latin American countries from 2002 to 2019. Our results show that presidential debates shape electoral preferences in countries with weakly institutionalised party systems. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T05:40:40Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ce289482e347475781baef1fd6841869 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1866-802X 1868-4890 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T05:40:40Z |
| publishDate | 2023-12-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Politics in Latin America |
| spelling | doaj.art-ce289482e347475781baef1fd68418692023-11-22T22:33:39ZengSAGE PublishingJournal of Politics in Latin America1866-802X1868-48902023-12-011510.1177/1866802X231213668Presidential Debates and Electoral Preferences in Weakly Institutionalised Democracies: Evidence From 32 Latin American ElectionsFrancisco Cantú0Miguel Carreras1 Department of Political Science, , Houston, TX, USA Department of Political Science, , Riverside, CA, USAPrevious research has shown that presidential debates have “minimal effects” on aggregate electoral preferences because they mainly reinforce people's pre-existing political preferences. However, most of what we know about the behavioural effects of debates comes from research conducted in the United States and other institutionalised democracies. We re-evaluate the effects of debates on electoral preferences by focusing on Latin American elections. Given higher levels of electoral volatility, weaker partisan brands, lower partisanship, and more personalised voter linkages, we expect that debates play a significant role in shaping vote choice in Latin America. We test these expectations by conducting an analysis of presidential debates on aggregated vote preferences in thirty-two elections across fourteen Latin American countries from 2002 to 2019. Our results show that presidential debates shape electoral preferences in countries with weakly institutionalised party systems.https://doi.org/10.1177/1866802X231213668 |
| spellingShingle | Francisco Cantú Miguel Carreras Presidential Debates and Electoral Preferences in Weakly Institutionalised Democracies: Evidence From 32 Latin American Elections Journal of Politics in Latin America |
| title | Presidential Debates and Electoral Preferences in Weakly Institutionalised Democracies: Evidence From 32 Latin American Elections |
| title_full | Presidential Debates and Electoral Preferences in Weakly Institutionalised Democracies: Evidence From 32 Latin American Elections |
| title_fullStr | Presidential Debates and Electoral Preferences in Weakly Institutionalised Democracies: Evidence From 32 Latin American Elections |
| title_full_unstemmed | Presidential Debates and Electoral Preferences in Weakly Institutionalised Democracies: Evidence From 32 Latin American Elections |
| title_short | Presidential Debates and Electoral Preferences in Weakly Institutionalised Democracies: Evidence From 32 Latin American Elections |
| title_sort | presidential debates and electoral preferences in weakly institutionalised democracies evidence from 32 latin american elections |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/1866802X231213668 |
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