The efficacy of inoculation in televised political debates

This study was the first to examine the potential of inoculation in televised political debates. The experiment confirmed the efficacy of inoculation in conferring resistance to the influence of counterattitudinal attack messages launched during debates. Inoculated participants with a preference toward a candidate were more resistant than the control group to the opposing candidate's counterattitudinal attacks. The study also explored the potential of inoculation to strength en receivers' normative attitudes, reducing potentially harmful effects of candidate attacks on participatory behaviors, but no significant differences were observed. This null finding implies that candidate attacks launched during debates are less likely to be perceived as unwarranted and may afford less normative utility in political debates.