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Televised political debates have become a permanent part of electoral campaigns, the campaign finale. However, evidence that such debates can shift voters' attitudes is mixed, while the impact on voters' preferences is highly doubted. Our research contributes to this debate based on empirical data on the effects of televised debates in the 2020 parliamentary elections in Slovakia. In contrast to other research on the impact of TV debates', we followed our participants for a longer period of time after the experiment, which allowed us to measure not only declared vote preference ex ante, but also reported behaviour ex post. We employed a pre-test/post-test experimental design in a controlled environment. The analysis investigates what effect debate exposure has on opinions about candidates' leadership skills, credibility, and political competence.

The popularity of televised political debates is growing, attracting millions of viewers. However, evidence that such debates can shift voters' attitudes is mixed and the impact on voters' preference is also mixed. In addition, the evidence comes mostly from presidential elections in the United States and almost exclusively from established democracies. A call for comparative research in new democracies has been made several times. Our research answers the call and contributes to this debate by comparing two experimental studies based on first-order national elections and second-order European Parliament elections in Slovakia. To our knowledge, this is the first time such a study has been performed in a post-communist EU country. We employed a pre-test/post-test experimental design in a controlled environment with participants randomly assigned to both groups. The results show that debate exposure has a stronger effect on opinions about candidates' leadership skills, credibility, and economic competence if the candidates were previously unknown. Familiarity with the candidates and pre-existing preferences also function as a block to preference change. Almost all of our findings are in line with previous research originating from Western contexts. Therefore, we conclude that the causal mechanism linking debate exposure to voters' preference and attitudes in the post-communist context is similar to that in Western countries with long-term democratic traditions.

For the very first time in EU history, the 2014 EP elections provided citizens with the opportunity to influence the nomination of the Commission President by casting a vote for the main Europarties' 'lead candidates'. By subjecting the position of the Commission President to an open political contest, many experts have formulated the expectation that heightened political competition would strengthen the weak electoral connection between EU citizens and EU legislators, which some consider a root cause for the EU's lack of public support. In particular, this contest was on display in the so-called 'Eurovision Debate', a televised debate between the main contenders for the Commission President broadcasted live across Europe. Drawing on a quasi-experimental study conducted in 24 EU countries, we find that debate exposure led to increased cognitive and political involvement and EU support among young citizens. Unfortunately, the debate has only reached a very small audience. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion