Unifying or Polarizing? 775 Unifying or Polarizing? Short-Term Effects and Postdebate Consequences of Different Rhetorical Strategies in Televised Debates By Carsten Reinemann and Marcus Maurer Despite a large body of research, little is known about the ways in which viewers react to different kinds of statements during televised debates nor about the degree to which these short-term reactions influence postdebate opinions. Taking the second televised debate in the 2002 German national election as an example, we address both of these questions. We identify the most unifying and polarizing statements and connect immediate reactions during the debate to postdebate verdicts on an individual level of analysis. Our results show that commonplaces and acclaims met unanimous support among audience members with different political predispositions. Attacks and statements in which the candidates presented factual evidence or specified their political plans tended to polarize supporters of the respective candidates. Moreover, short-term reactions had an independent impact on postdebate verdicts even when political predispositions and expectations were controlled. Televised debates have become an important part of election campaigns in many countries around the world (e.g., Coleman, 2000). In the United States and elsewhere, televised debates reach a larger audience, generate greater media coverage, and stimulate more discussion among citizens than any other single campaign event. Effects of televised debates include immediate short-term reactions to the candidates during a debate, verdicts about the performance of the debaters, learning about candidate positions, agenda setting, changing candidate images, and influencing voting behavior (e.g., McKinney & Carlin, 2004; Benoit et al., 2003; Pfau, 2003; Racine Group, 2002). Despite numerous empirical studies, some fundamental questions about the effects of televised debates have remained unanswered. This is especially true for Copyright © 2005 International Communication Association Carsten Reinemann (PhD, University of Mainz) and Marcus Maurer (PhD, University of Mainz) are both assistant professors at the University of Mainz.