By the end of today, Republican presidential hopefuls will have spent roughly 16 hours debating one another to help determine who will become their party’s nominee. Democratic candidates, in contrast, will have debated each other for about four hours.
But what’s most striking is not the difference between the number of debates the parties have scheduled, nor the amount of time they’ll spend debating. Rather, it’s when they’re debating. The Democratic National Committee, which organizes the party’s debates, has faced criticism for scheduling the debates at times when relatively few people will be watching.
Tonight’s debate will start at 9 pm EST, 6 pm on the West Coast. That’s when millions of Americans will be going out or watching one of the stellar line-up of college football games. That includes a key game in Iowa for the fifth-ranked Hawkeyes, for those interested in the early states.
Three of the four Democratic debates already scheduled will take place on weekends, when voters, and especially the young voters who make up the Democratic base, will be busy with family and friends.
If Democrats really want to keep viewership low, they could always schedule another debate on New Year’s Eve or Super Bowl Sunday. Better yet, how about the evening of December 17, opening night for “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”? Actually, the next Democratic debate will take place on December 19, the first Saturday after the film’s release.
Are weekend debates uncommon? Indeed they are. Vox recently analyzed all 100 presidential debates that have taken place since the 2000 election cycle. It found that just seven occurred on Saturdays. “Republicans have scheduled most of their debates on days that historically fare quite well (in terms of viewership),” Vox concludes. “Democrats have not…”
It is clear that in 2016, Democratic Party leaders don’t want a competitive primary process that could damage Clinton before what will likely be a hard-fought general election campaign.
Perhaps they remember how Mitt Romney was pulled to the right on immigration and other issues during the 20 Republican primary debates in the 2012 cycle, and what it did to his general election prospects. Maybe they concluded that they don’t want something similar to happen to Hillary, or maybe they just wanted to make sure she wouldn’t suffer a repeat of 2008.
When it comes to presidential debates, political parties must decide what their objective is. If it is to offer candidates a forum to make their case to the millions of people who will be choosing their party’s nominee, then more people watching more debates is better. But if it is to protect the general election viability of their strongest candidate, then fewer people watching fewer debates may be a good thing.
Democrats have made their choice, and Democratic voters are right not be happy about it.
