There you go again: an analysis of Jimmy Carter's debate tactics in his debate with Ronald Reagan

Abstract

This thesis contains three chapters. Chapter One provides an analysis of Carter's campaign for president. Carter's battle with Kennedy in the Democratic primary is examined. Additionally, an analysis of Carter's acceptance speech at the Democratic convention and an overview of the fall campaign is provided.

Chapter Two has two foci. First, to present a holistic analysis of the debate, this chapter presents an analysis of the questions which were posed to the debaters. Moreover, it argues that Carter's debate preparation books enabled Carter to ignore certain questions and to recite a pre-written answer which reflected the overall strategy of his campaign. The second portion of this chapter delineates Carter's debate tactics, and in the closing portion of this analysis, it will become evident that Carter attempted to use the debate to appeal to specific segments of the population as well as to deny Reagan the "credibility threshold." It will be argued that Carter's debate strategy was fundamentally guided by this concept.

Chapter Three will demonstrate that Carter did not achieve either of his debate objectives: Carter was unable to make a persuasive case to blue-collar males, and he was unable to deny Reagan the "credibility threshold." Finally, this chapter evaluates the relative success of Reagan and Carter in achieving their primary debate objectives.