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A Review of Presidential Debate Questions - Nixon v Kennedy
January 16, 2016 | Political Junkie Too

Posted on 01/28/2016 2:28:09 PM PST by Political Junkie Too

A Review of Presidential Debate Questions in the Modern Era

The Nixon-Kennedy Debates

Can you tell if there is any hostility, bias, or gotchas in the questions over time?

I will use a 1-5 point system to "rate" the question, and then normalize and "score" the fairness of the overall debate. A perfectly neutral debate should score 50/50.

Scoring System


Candidates: Vice-President Richard Nixon (R), Senator John F. Kennedy (D)

Date: September 26, 1960

Topic: Internal or domestic American matters

Moderator; Panel: Howard K. Smith (CBS News); Sander Vanocur (NBC News), Charles Warren (Mutual News), Stuart Novins (CBS News), Bob Fleming (ABC News)

Format: 1 hour, answer and rebuttal.

Opening Statement / Closing Statement: 8 minutes / 3 minutes


Candidates: Vice-President Richard Nixon (R), Senator John F. Kennedy (D)

Date: October 7, 1960

Topic: Any

Moderator; Panel: Frank McGee (NBC News); Paul Niven (CBS), Edward P. Morgan (ABC), Alvin Spivak (United Press International), Harold R. Levy (Newsday).

Format: 1 hour, answer and rebuttal

Opening Statement / Closing Statement: None / None


Candidates: Vice-President Richard Nixon (R), Senator John F. Kennedy (D)

Date: October 13, 1960

Topic: Any

Moderator; Panel: Bill Shadel (ABC News); Frank McGee (NBC News), Charles Van Fremd (CBS News), Douglass Cater (Reporter magazine), Roscoe Drummond (New York Herald Tribune).

Format: 1 hour, 2.5 minutes to answer, 1.5 minutes to rebut

Opening Statement / Closing Statement: None / None


Candidates: Vice-President Richard Nixon (R), Senator John F. Kennedy (D)

Date: October 21, 1960

Topic: Foreign Policy

Moderator; Panel: Quincy Howe (ABC News); Frank Singiser, (Mutual News), John Edwards (ABC News), Walter Cronkite (CBS News), John Chancellor (NBC News).

Format: 1 hour, 2.5 minutes to answer, 1.5 minutes to rebut

Opening Statement / Closing Statement: 8 minutes/ 3 minutes




TOPICS: FReeper Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: debates
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This is something that I wanted to do ever since the first Fox News debate debacle.

This is a question by question review of the four Nixon-Kennedy debates from 56 years ago. How does the quality of question compare to the questions of today? Do you see any bias in the questions? Do you agree or disagree with my assessment of the questions?

Finally, notice how the moderators and questioners were all from different organizations. Do you think that affects the dynamic of the debates?

-PJ

1 posted on 01/28/2016 2:28:09 PM PST by Political Junkie Too
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To: Political Junkie Too
agree

None are the Fox moderators are real journalist

2 posted on 01/28/2016 2:30:46 PM PST by scooby321
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To: scooby321
It's like a Great Football game

What help makes it great is that you don't notice the referees

3 posted on 01/28/2016 2:31:51 PM PST by scooby321
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To: Political Junkie Too

Mr. Trump, you have called women dogs. Rating: 0

Trump’s response: Only Rosie O’Donnell. Rating: Out of the ball park


4 posted on 01/28/2016 2:35:08 PM PST by Rennes Templar (I'm pro gun control: keep your guns under your control at all times.)
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To: Political Junkie Too

56 years ago and it seems like yesterday.

(Sigh)

.


5 posted on 01/28/2016 2:37:31 PM PST by Mears
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To: Political Junkie Too

I’ll say this, old Dwight Eisenhower really threw Nixon under the bus during that campaign.


6 posted on 01/28/2016 2:37:45 PM PST by SamAdams76
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To: Political Junkie Too

Well, you’re on the right track. Now just total up the results of the Nixon-Kennedy Debates and compare them to the results of any recent “debate” to really see the contrast.


7 posted on 01/28/2016 2:39:42 PM PST by Jim W N
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To: Political Junkie Too

You put some hard work in that. If it s original work of yours I suggest you copyright it immediately. I see things get lifted off of FR frequently enough to know journalists use material and original thought from FR.


8 posted on 01/28/2016 2:44:03 PM PST by Fhios (FR inception date 2015. I must be a mole for whoever I'm currently supporting.)
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To: Political Junkie Too
Free Republic Caucus 16 01/28
four days to Iowa

Vote
9 posted on 01/28/2016 2:44:08 PM PST by DoughtyOne (Free Republic Caucus: vote daily / watch for the thread / Starts 01/20 midnight to midnight EST)
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To: Political Junkie Too

Excellent rating system!

I encourage you to continue it. It is a simple and wise way of rating “debates” (which today bear no relation to the meaning of the word).

It’s not an exaggeration to say that if it were in book form, covering many elections, I would buy it.


10 posted on 01/28/2016 2:44:30 PM PST by Chad N. Freud (FR is the modern equivalent of the Committees of Correspondence. Let other analogies arise.)
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To: Jim 0216
I plan to. There were no more debates until Ford-Carter in 1976.

-PJ

11 posted on 01/28/2016 2:45:40 PM PST by Political Junkie Too (If you are the Posterity of We the People, then you are a Natural Born Citizen.)
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good karma will follow your donation to free republic

oops

12 posted on 01/28/2016 2:46:50 PM PST by DoughtyOne (Free Republic Caucus: vote daily / watch for the thread / Starts 01/20 midnight to midnight EST)
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To: Political Junkie Too

I’d like to see a debate with no “gotcha” and no “gimme” questions. It should be about the candidates and the issues, with the candidates, not journalists challenging each other where appropriate. We should not see journalists combing through everything candidates from the other side have ever said to set them up - that is more appropriate for an interview format, but even there only if it is done to both sides.


13 posted on 01/28/2016 3:04:27 PM PST by Pollster1 ("Shall not be infringed" is unambiguous.)
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To: Pollster1
I agree. Even in 1960 there were some questions of the "You said..." and "He said of you..." variety.

-PJ

14 posted on 01/28/2016 3:10:22 PM PST by Political Junkie Too (If you are the Posterity of We the People, then you are a Natural Born Citizen.)
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To: Political Junkie Too

Excellent. Any chance you will do one for the primary debate that Reagan skipped? (He regretted listening to his campaign manager on that score and attended all subsequent debates)


15 posted on 01/28/2016 3:39:06 PM PST by brothers4thID ("We've had way too many Republicans whose #1 virtue is "I get along great with Democrats".")
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To: brothers4thID
I'll have to see what transcripts are out there. There are a lot of primary debates relative to general election debates.

-PJ

16 posted on 01/28/2016 3:44:24 PM PST by Political Junkie Too (If you are the Posterity of We the People, then you are a Natural Born Citizen.)
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To: Political Junkie Too

Wonderful stuff you should do this with Lincoln/Douglas, debates.


17 posted on 01/28/2016 4:12:30 PM PST by StoneWall Brigade (Vote Tom Hoefling of America's Party for President the only person to restore the Republic)
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To: Pollster1

My rating - Zero! That was then, this is now...


18 posted on 01/28/2016 4:14:33 PM PST by heterosupremacist
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To: Political Junkie Too; Fhios

Excellent work, PJToo!
The rotation of the journalists, and focus on issues really stood out; it’s interesting to note that the bias, or spin, was definitely in there, although the questioners at least tried to bury it.
Also, I support Fhios’ suggestion in post #8.


19 posted on 01/28/2016 6:13:22 PM PST by mumblypeg (Reality is even more complicated than the internet.)
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To: Political Junkie Too

Bump


20 posted on 09/30/2020 8:58:01 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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