With the continuation of extreme partisan voting and political climate, there have been notable changes in respect, language use, behavior, and civility displayed by politicians. In other words, politicians have lost their sense of political decorum. This can especially be seen during their presidential campaigns; specifically, televised presidential debates.
History of Presidential Debate:
To understand what has led America’s politics to this point, it is vital to comprehend the history of behavior demonstrated in televised debates.
The first televised debate was in 1960, between candidates John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon. Most who watched the debate could agree that Kennedy had ultimately won, and generally, it is believed that JFK’s younger and more lively appearance in the debate helped sway voters in his direction. Therefore, it is made clear from the very first televised presidential debate the significance of appearance and expression.
Another notable debate was in 1980 and was during the Jimmy Carter vs. Ronald Reagan election. At this point, Carter had already served his first term as president. At first, he was reluctant to debate his opponent because of Reagan’s known comedic and conversational ability. However, in an attempt to get higher voter percentages, Carter changed his mind 10 days before the election. He was right to be wary of this though, for Reagan’s confidence and likability displayed in the debate was much more appealing to voters than Carter’s seeming detachment and insecurity. This is another instance that proved the value of presentation and behavior during public presidential debates.
Until 2000, no notable disturbing acts or words had been tossed during debates. In fact, in the 1992 election, President George H.W. Bush received much lash back for looking at his watch mid-debate, which seems silly when compared to what is seen in current debates. Regardless, in the 2000 election between George W. Bush and Al Gore, a few abnormal things occurred that had not been seen before during debate. Gore could be seen rolling his eyes and heard loudly sighing in response to points made by Bush. He even decided to walk up to Bush in an alleged attempt of intimidation as the president was in the middle of speaking. Acts like these were new to the setting of presidential debate, and though they were not necessarily normalized at the time, they are normalized today.
Incivility Seen in Current Debates:
Handshakes:
In the first and only 2024 presidential debate between President Trump and President Biden, the two refused to shake hands before or after the debate. Though in 2016 Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton also did not shake hands during their final debate, shaking hands is a normality in debates, and the two not shaking hands went against the status quo of presidential debates. Later in 2024, in the debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, Harris went up to Trump at the beginning of the event, seemingly determined to get a civilized handshake. However, the two did not shake hands again at the end.
Body language:
Body language plays a key role in swaying audiences and exhibiting respect. During the 2024 debate between President Trump and Vice President Harris, there were multiple displays of debatably unmannerly body language. For instance, Harris repeatedly and deliberately gave facial expressions to express her disbelief of what Trump was saying. On a similar note, both candidates, especially Harris, openly laughed at arguments made by the other. Additionally, Trump was unwilling to even make eye contact with Harris throughout the entirety of the conversation.
Avoiding questions:
There were multiple points within the most recent 2024 presidential debate when either candidate would talk their way around a question. Donald Trump, for example, claimed he has “concepts of a plan” to get rid of and replace ObamaCare. If candidates fail to properly answer questions, it takes away from the validity of a candidate, because the entire purpose of a televised debate is to display each candidate’s policy to the people.
Making fun of candidates:
Insults were thrown on both sides of the Trump vs. Harris presidential debate, and though it is normal to attack each others policy, it is not common that candidates will throw personal insults at one another. For instance, Harris threw a stab to Trump’s confidence by claiming that people were leaving his rallies before they ended “out of exhaustion and boredom.” This obviously sparked the former president’s rage, because he responded by saying that “people don’t go to her rallies” and that “the people who do go, she’s busing them in and paying them to be there.”
Discussing unrelated topics:
On the note of personal, unrelated topics, this perfectly captured in the 2024 debate between Trump and Biden, in which they began debating about golf rather than politics and policy. This was notably the first time in the history of debates where candidates got so off point for such a prolonged time.
Fact checks:
One of the highlighted parts of the Harris vs Trump debate was when Trump claimed that the illegal Haitian immigrants were “eating the pets” of the residents of Springfield, Ohio. This was an unsupported claim, as reaffirmed by moderator David Muir. However, the former president did not seem to believe the unbiased fact checking of the moderators and continued to refer to the claim as fact.
Stolen election claims:
Even though he has been legally indicted for his participation, Trump still claims during the debate with Harris that he was not to blame for the January 6th attack on the Capitol. His involvement marks the first time when there was not a peaceful transfer of power between presidents, which has been an important precedent that had been set in 1800. No other president has made such claims that an election was rigged, or rallied people to storm the capital, or continued to deny his doing so.
What has caused this shift away from the status quo?
Social media:
Social media plays a huge role in the demise of politics. Platforms encourage disconnect— from others and from reality. It also has algorithms which cater to whoever is watching. This means that if, for instance, a person is very conservative, they would be shown content that matches their views. These algorithms will also spread lies so frequently and widely that they will be accepted as truth. When these lies are accepted as truth, politicians use them in their campaigns and debates as such, misinforming the general public.
Partisan politics:
With the extremity of political parties in America at current, it is easy for politicians to campaign with more extreme views. It also has caused citizens to provide heavy support for a candidate, because politics is viewed as a competition rather than a resolution. This permits political figures to act however they want during debates, knowing they will still have massive support.
COVID-19:
The pairing of a pandemic and a presidential election resulted in chaos in America. Having little else to do at home, Americans began focusing on politics more. Due to factors of isolation and detachment, people made politics become a violent matter. This has influenced years following, for it seems politics may never go back to being civilized post-pandemic. Citizens not being civil with one another has resulted in candidates acting in the same unprofessional manor.
How do we resolve this problem?
Resolutions to this issue are limited, but there are some things to be done to work towards returning to civility. Media literacy education could be pushed by schools and the platforms themselves so that people could recognize biases, lies, etc… However, the real issue lies with the people. Citizens need to change their attitudes towards politics and hold politicians accountable for their behaviors. Americans need to recognize that politics is meant to resolve issues, debate and conversation should lead to compromise and betterment. Politics is not meant to be a competition; it is meant to be a collaborative solution.