Audience Perceptions of Politeness and Advocacy Skills in the 2000 and 2004 Presidential Debates

Two studies, of the 2000 and 2004 presidential debates, were conducted to determine the extent to which audience members relied on constructs of politeness or advocacy skills to evaluate candidates' messages in debates. Results from pre-debate responses as to the importance of these skills and post-debate judgments of the quality of those skills indicated that, above and beyond loyalty to a candidate, both advocacy and politeness played a role in audience members' evaluations of the candidates. While advocacy skills appeared to be more salient, politeness still played a significant role. The findings confirm the need for more descriptive, ethnographic, and scientific studies to determine how politeness and advocacy skills are related in audience assessments of candidates in debates.