Primary Debates: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

This year's televised presidential debates have reached bigger audiences than ever before. What purposes have they served? What have they contributed to the democratic process?

CNN reporter Wolfe Blitzer attempts to moderate a Republican debate, February 26, 2016

The Democrats still have two televised presidential debates planned for this year, but the Republicans cancelled their last encounter, scheduled for Monday, when Donald Trump declined to appear. In all, they conducted 12 encounters, which sometimes sounded presidential and sometimes something quite less than that. Kathleen Hall Jamieson is director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania.