Television Impact On Presidential Elections Essay

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In 1960, John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon squared off in the first televised presidential debates in American history. Television has allowed more people to feel politically active, but are they being politically active? Presidential elections have become more about irrelevant entertainment than politics. Image has become a huge factor in who people vote for deliberately or not. For some people, a candidate’s image is just as important as his or her political views. Television has also been a tool to manipulate the public’s opinion. Television has had a negative impact on presidential elections. Foremost, television contributes to why presidential candidates are often judged based on their image rather than their political ideals. Theodore H. White pointed out that people who listened to the Kennedy v. Nixon debates on the radio scored it a draw, while people who watched it on television thought Kennedy crushed Nixon (Source C). This statistic demonstrates the amount of influence an image can have on someone’s opinion on a person. Kennedy’s clean and charismatic image became a factor in deciding who won the debates for people who watched the debates on TV. This shows how television has a negative impact on presidential elections. The president’s main role is to lead the country politically, so …show more content…
This is not always done in an informatively. It has been done manipulatively and for entertainment value. Because television has turned elections into a source of entertainment rather than a serious event, presidential candidates have had to focus on their image making it difficult for candidates to fully inform their audience of their platform. As a result, constituents have a hard time judging the candidates solely on their political views. For these reasons, the use of television has had a negative impact on presidential
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