Jonathan Bernstein, Columnist

Debates Don’t Matter the Way People Think They Do

Contrary to popular belief, they rarely affect election outcomes.

August 6, 2020 at 11:30 AM UTC

Jonathan Bernstein is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering politics. A former professor of political science at the University of Texas at San Antonio, he wrote A Plain Blog About Politics.

The 2016 debates seem so long ago.
Photographer: Drew Angerer/Getty Images North America

Provide news feedback or report an error

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

This article is for subscribers only.

Get Jonathan Bernstein’s newsletter every morning in your inbox. Click here to subscribe.

We’re supposed to be in the run-up to the conventions, but with those events going virtual and generating even less excitement than usual, the presidential race seems to be skipping ahead to perhaps its most dismal phase: the debate over debates.