Political debate provides an opportunity for voters to see and hear candidates articulate their positions on the issues that they care about. In a time of extreme partisan polarization, political debate can provide opportunities for both parties to highlight their strengths and weaknesses. But many Americans feel that heightened political polarization makes it harder to have productive, meaningful dialogues about issues and candidates.
The goal of debate is to generate interest in the election, help voters understand the choices and forecast governance, and give candidates an opportunity to clarify their priorities and core political messages. With the right reforms, political debate can do a better job of meeting these goals.
In addition to a broad range of topics, a debate should allow each candidate to have two opportunities to deviate from the formal format and make a statement on their own, without relying on a moderator’s question or the topic’s title. In this way, both the candidates can clarify their responses, respond to attacks and rebut claims that might be excluded from a specific format.
A debate should also be conducted in a way that minimizes physical “traffic” between candidates and the questioners, allowing a smooth flow of conversation. Finally, a debate should include more flexible time limits than the current eight questions with three minutes each, enabling deep analysis of individual policy positions and clearer comparisons and contrasts while still avoiding the candidates’ discussion of topics that have already been raised in a previous topic or question.