Television and Voting

Lesson Objectives

I will get the opportunity to develop my understanding of the influence television has over voters

Introduction – Don’t copy The 1960 presidential election was the first time

television really came to foreground, with the first ever live televised presidential debate

Voters watching on television witnessed a polished performance from a young, charismatic John Kennedy, who had been working with a media team in the lead up the debate

On the other hand, Nixon gave little time to how he looked or came across and instead spent his time focussing on his arguments

The result? TV polls gave Kennedy the win hands down. However polls for radio listeners gave the debate to Nixon. It was the last time Nixon would underestimate the power of television

Television has long been used by political parties in the UK to sway undecided voters. But is still influential?

How do parties use television to their advantage to influence undecided floating voters?

Party political broadcasts, 24 hour news, television debates

Who watches shows like X factor or Big Brother?

Why do you watch these shows?

It is thought we watch these shows as we like to decide who we like, follow them and maybe even vote for them. We enjoy judging people's personalities. This style of TV ‘popularity contest’ has extended into politics in recent years

TV Debates The first ever UK leaders’

debates took place in 2010, with three debates on ITV, Sky and BBC.

Around 10 million people watched the first debate on ITV.

By contrast, 79% of Britons could not re-call any online electioneering, not even an email.

TV debates took place in the 2011 Scottish election also

The Presidential element to these debates was said to have worked more in Alex Salmond’s favour.

TV Debates But then how illusory are

the impact of the television debates?

In 2010, opinion polls after the debate had the Liberal Democrat share of the vote at 31%

However this melted away over three weeks to 23%, where it had been before the debates

Could the 4% increase in voters turning out in 2010 be down to the popular television debates?

24 Hour News This is the biggest ‘game change’

politics has seen in the past two decades Never before have we had such

exposure to our politicans, with their every move followed

Of course it doesn’t always work well for politicans (See Subway Scandal, Duffy Gate and ‘Egg’ Milliband more recently!)

Conclusion Television has seen a revival in importance

in recent years 24 hour news cycles and televised debates

have given people greater access to their politicians

However there is little evidence to suggest television swings people’s votes

Nevertheless it may be helping to boost turnout as people are more exposed to election campaigning

And it certainly helps us decided which leader we like the best