With fourteen Republican presidential debates passed and many more to come, students remain uncertain as to the pertinence of this debate-heavy election season.
Despite ample coverage of the debates by national news sources, many University students don’t feel the debates warrant their attention so early in the election cycle.
Political science professor James Garand sees both sides of the argument.
“The debates that are being held so early are not being held for the regular voters,” he said. “The nomination process involves the presidential candidates trying to appeal to party elites and activists.”
That means the average American won’t be as invested so early on in the race.
“Most of the debates are targeted toward the elites — campaign contributors, party activists and also for people who are highly interested in politics and paying attention,” Garand continued. “Most people are not highly interested and paying attention.”
Garand said the debates are primarily an effort by the candidates to prove themselves to those who would endorse them, much like an audition.
As for the news coverage, he said the attention is much like a behind-the-scenes look for voters into the nuances of the debate process.
“The fact that the candidates are appealing to their party base is why a presidential candidate can screw up by making some comment that doesn’t seem like a problem to regular voters but poses a problem to the party elites,” he said.
Students are feeling the disconnect.
“We need to stop this whole media attention thing,” said biochemistry junior Willow Sells. “It is too early — not that it’ll be much better later.”
Sells said she thinks the debates lose focus too often.
“They’re soap operas — it’s ridiculous,” she complained. “Anybody involved in those shouldn’t be president.”
Sells reserved some hope for Congressman Ron Paul, R-Texas, calling him the most appealing candidate involved.
Matt Carr, music performance junior, shares Sells’ sentiment. He agreed that it’s a bit early in the season, but he added that the Republicans “really don’t have anybody popular.”
Carr said he mostly hears about the debates from “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.”
“If I want to hear something [about the debates], I’d rather laugh at it,” he said.
Carr originally supported Paul but deemed him unelectable because he isn’t popular enough.
Chemistry senior Chris Nelson has watched nearly all of the debates and said tuning in is both necessary and advisable.
“The biggest thing I took away was, ‘Go Ron Paul,'” Nelson said. “The more I watched the debates, the bigger a fan I became.”
After keeping up with the debates, Nelson sees Herman Cain as unviable, Texas Gov. Rick Perry as a victim to his own blunders and former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich as “a new George W. Bush.”
Nelson has nonetheless found the media’s portrayal inaccurate in regards to each candidates’ popularity, shifting public perception of who the most popular candidates are.
The University’s College Republicans chapter president William Dunckelman Jr. also advises students to follow the debates more closely.
“We’re not far away at all from what will be the Republican nominee being selected,” he said in reference to the coming caucuses. “It’s a big election, the stakes are high and I think people need to be involved and stay on top.”
Dunckelman said he believes the debates are shaping the election substantially, specifically regarding Perry’s fallen popularity since he entered the debates and Gingrich’s rise to the top.
“I would caution [students] that the election is roughly a year away,” he said.
Daniel Colvin, president of College Democrats at the University, agrees with Dunckelman.
“I don’t think it’s ever too early for students to be paying attention, and they need to be educated,” he advised.
Colvin said there currently isn’t anything of value for the Republican candidates to debate against, but the stances the candidates assume now will be taken into the White House should they succeed.
 
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Contact Clayton Crockett at [email protected].