
Research
Date Published
- March 2025
- February 2025
- January 2025
- December 2024
- November 2024
- October 2024
- September 2024
- August 2024
- July 2024
- June 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- October 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- November 2022
- October 2022
- January 2022
- November 2021
- October 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- March 2021
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- February 2020
Filters to only view publications from a particular program:
An Analysis of the Evolution of Rhetoric in American Political Debate
The first 2024 presidential debate between Presidents Joe Biden and Donald Trump reaffirmed the disenchantment of many with contemporary American politics. An oft-stated grievance of voters and pundits alike is the uncivil speech and conduct of political candidates, which may no longer be “unprecedented” but ubiquitous in our system. The bitter aftertaste of the debate provokes the question of whether common decency has been abandoned by our politicians.
But is this perception accurate? And can we assess how the behavior of political candidates has changed, not only within the past ten years but also since the first televised presidential debate took place between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon almost six and a half decades ago?