Inquiry Question

How does the language of political debates impact a voter's political ideology?

Inquiry Question Assignment Proposal

Lela Ali

Research Topic Proposal

October 22, 1994

                The United States is recently experiencing the heat of presidential elections. Some voters are Democrats while some are Republican, but what about the people who are undecided? I believe that presidential debates play an important role for those who are not sure about their vote. I give great attention to politics not only because I love it, but because I think it is a very important aspect of my daily life. It is very disappointing to hear students on campus say, “I don’t want to vote,” or “my vote will not count.” My only answer to them is to make time and watch a presidential debate because that may be the only source of information they have in such a limited amount of time. Most people are raised to vote for the candidate who follows their personal ideology, which most of the time is influenced by family and the environment. I have always wondered how presidential debates could somehow alter a political ideology of a person or even create one for some. My interest in politics urged me to use this as my topic of inquiry. 

              My main inquiry question for this topic is the following: “Does the language used in presidential debates impact a voter’s political ideology?” I don’t really know the specific answer for this question, but I do know a decent amount of information about politics to get started on my research. I personally grew up having a limited amount of knowledge on political ideology because my parents were not greatly informed about it when immigrating to the U.S.  I had to create an ideology of my own from my experience through school and the influence of my personal values and beliefs. Taking U.S. history and Civics in high school taught me that voting is a duty. Reaching the voting age recently gave me another reason to get closer to politics. Attending the DNC in Charlotte and listening to Michelle Obama speak was definitely a political journey that opened my eyes to the world of elections and debates. 

             People usually watch presidential debates on channels favoring their political ideology because they get to hear the commentary they want to hear. The candidate’s language, however, could have some type of effect on the voter. For example, in the first debate, the public concluded that Romeny succeeded because of his presentation. Romney constantly made eye contact with Obama, while Obama did not. This emphasized the importance of body language during debate. The following debate, Obama showed improvements with his body language as well as his responses to Romney, which gave him a boost in political debate performance. From just watching those two debates, one of my friends was finally able to establish a firm decision on a vote. This really amazed me because she was not willing to vote at all, but after I made her watch the debate, she changed her mind.

           I have taken a descent amount of History and politics classes to understand the basic influences of political ideology, but I believe that this inquiry paper will take my knowledge to the next level. I know agents like family, school, environment, and religion affiliations have an impact on a voter’s ideology. What I am trying to figure out is could this already shaped political ideology be altered by the language of political debates. I personally believe that political debates do not impact a voter’s political ideology unless that voter is not affiliated with a political party, meaning they are undecided or independent. For my research, I will most likely approach different sites presenting information about political parties or the history of political debates. I will also focus on media videos that have a great deal of impact on the American public.  Any information regarding the influence of political ideology will definitely be of some help to me in writing this inquiry paper. 

                I have a plan for my paper, but my only concern is my topic becoming very broad rather than focused on my thesis. Should I include the media’s role with political debates and shaping a person’s ideology? I also want to include personal experience as well as individual research I plan on conducting through the community, but I am not sure how I should approach that. My main goal is to be able to include an appropriate amount of information that answers my inquiry question.