The Grand Finale

Abstract: The 2019 televised debate between the leaders of the two main Portuguese parties for the general elections in Portugal drew approximately 2.7 million viewers. Debates constitute a centrepiece of campaigns, allowing candidates to showcase their proposals. The importance of debates in election campaigns reflects their possible influence in changing voters’ perspectives. As the standards for judging candidates increasingly rely on non-political characteristics such as personality traits, we examine the effects of debates on voters’ judgments of the warmth and competence of candidates and their voting intentions. We employed a within subject’s pretest/postest design to monitor participants before and after the debate between the leaders of the two main parties in Portugal, António Costa (Socialist Party, PS) and Rui Rio (Social-Democrat Party, PSD) for the Portuguese 2019 legislative elections. A comprehensive statistical pipeline was implemented to isolate the effects of the debate. Evidence suggesting that the debate influenced the perceived warmth and competence of both candidates was found. This study contributes to the literature on debates and supports the claim that they may shift voters’ perceptions and attitudes.