Real-time reactions to a 2012 presidential debate

Abstract

How effective are presidential candidates at engaging viewers during debates? To answer this question, we designed a mobile app and conducted a large-scale national study of individual college students' real-time reactions to the first general election debate of 2012. Previous studies have relied either on real-time but small-sample individual dial reactions or on large-scale public reactions to debates in their entirety, after the fact, and without consideration of specific statements or events within the debates. By contrast, our approach allowed us to collect moment-by-moment data from a large and diverse group of participants in natural settings. The resulting data make it possible to answer questions previously believed to be outside the bounds of systematic inquiry. Here, we explain the method and provide some key findings that illustrate the payoff of our approach. Our study suggests that collecting large-scale, real-time data is feasible and valuable for advancing research on a host of public opinion phenomena.