Political blockbusters: When research on TV debates becomes as exciting as the political battle itself

Two candidates, one stage, millions of viewers. TV duels, trilogies or, for the first time this year, quadrilles are among the most exciting events of an election campaign. Here, the leading candidates face each other directly and answer the moderators' critical questions. A single moment can decide how viewers and potential voters rate the candidate.

But what happens in the minds of the viewers during these heated debates? Which arguments are really convincing? Which moments decide the overall impression? And perhaps the most important question: How is the judgment formed? Jürgen Maier, professor of politics in the department of cultural and social sciences at RPTU in Landau, has been working on precisely these questions for more than 20 years. In 2002, the first TV debate between Edmund Stoiber and Gerhard Schröder opened up an exciting range of topics for the young academic, which still fascinates him today. He is particularly interested in analyzing the trends that research has made increasingly visible in recent years. During the first TV duel, Jürgen Maier examined the effect of the debate using an experimental study with participants on location at the University of Bamberg. Since then, research into TV duels has undergone an impressive development. The most recent technical leap came in 2021, when Maier developed the "real smart" app together with computer scientist colleagues from Kaiserslautern and the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI). This app makes a lot of things possible - above all, viewers can use the app to record their ratings and reactions in real time during the live broadcast of the TV duel - regardless of where they are.

The "real smart" app therefore creates an innovative basis for this year's research. However, the short election campaign ahead of the 2025 general election brings with it other new challenges. Everything has to happen much faster than planned: "What we are doing now was actually planned for September. We would normally have been able to bring the study into the field in peace and quiet. What's more, there was a Christmas break in the midst of all the hastily brought forward preparations, the lecture period is underway and all the committee meetings are in progress. And the study comes on top," explains Maier. Six TV duels, i.e. six data collections, have to be brought into the field and evaluated in a very short space of time. Participants can use the app to answer a short questionnaire before and after the show and evaluate live during the debate which statements or candidates spontaneously convince them, or which moments tend to cause skepticism. The data obtained in this way is extremely valuable for research - the more people take part, the more meaningful the findings. That's why, in addition to all the preparations, Jürgen Maier also takes part in live Insta broadcasts with appearances on TV, interviews on the radio and sharing the information on social media channels.

Of course, once the data has been collected, the scientific work really begins. First, the real-time reactions of viewers have to be linked to the content analysis. "Many pieces of the puzzle from the different departments are put together here," says Maier. This is where Jürgen Maier's student assistants come into play. One of them is Master's student Paula Kromm. She meticulously codes the TV debates using certain variables with the help of the statistics program SPSS and has to deal with the content of the TV debates: How often do the candidates interrupt each other? What is the focus of the statement? She records and categorizes these and many other factors. What initially sounds like routine work is actually the basis for obtaining exciting results. Without Paula, audience reactions would be made visible in real time by the app. However, it is only the combination of real-time reactions and the content of the debates that enables the research team to understand exactly which statements led to which emotional reactions from viewers. This allows patterns to be identified that provide information on how political messages are received in face-to-face debates - and which statements may also make the decisive difference at the ballot box.

"The insights gained should reach the outside world as quickly as possible and thus be made available to citizens and the media," emphasizes Jürgen Maier. He therefore evaluates the information from the questionnaires directly after the TV broadcasts and makes it available to everyone on the project website immediately afterwards. The evaluation of the real-time ratings is time-consuming due to the complex data set and requires more time. In addition, the results are later presented in scientific publications and at international conferences.

Maier now has to work under enormous time pressure and is very grateful to his team, which enthusiastically supports his research approach and makes everything possible. His research assistants Jennifer Bast and Hannah Decker are a reliable source of support, as are his IT colleagues, who have brought the app up to date as quickly as possible. "The TV debates are probably the most important single event during the election campaign. There is no talk show or comparable format that even comes close to the reach and attention that such a debate generates," confirms Maier. The experiments offer a unique opportunity to engage with politics in a special way and to be part of an exciting research project. By the way: the search for further participants is still ongoing! The best thing about it: anyone can take part.

Anyone who wants to make a contribution to research while watching the TV debates can easily do so: Download the app from the app store or via the project page , find out the broadcast dates there and take part.