TV debates in EP election campaigns – the influence of the 2019 Eurovision debate on voting behaviour

Figures & data

Table 1. TV coverage of the debate.

	TV Channels	Broadcast	Total coverage	Total hits	Livestream nat. newshub
DE	Phoenix, Tagesschau 24, (Euronews)	Live	7h 58m	488	✗
DK	DR2	only partly	1h 9m	109	✓
ES	Canal 24 horas, (Euronews)	Live	4h 53m	152	✓
HU	Duna World	only partly	2h 54m	53	✓
NL	–	–	14m	31	✗

Note: Information is based on all monitored channels by the EBU (EBU, 2020; Presidency of the EC, 2019).

Table 2. Exposure to (live) TV debate among respondents (in %).

	DE	DK	ES	HU	NL	Total
Yes, completely	5.2	3.2	6.9	5.1	0.3	4.0
Yes, most of it	12.4	8.0	14.1	10.2	2.0	9.1
Yes, a little bit	14.6	13.4	17.2	25.6	7.0	14.5
No	67.9	75.5	61.9	59.1	90.8	72.4
	100 N = 1378	100 N = 1378	100 N = 1387	100 N = 823	100 N = 1496

Table 3. Exposure to post-debate media coverage among respondents (in %).

	DE	DK	ES	HU	NL	Total
Yes	25.1	26.1	33.5	38.0	14.4	26.3
No	75.0	74.0	66.5	62.0	85.6	73.7
	100 N = 1378	100 N = 1378	100 N = 1387	100 N = 823	100 N = 1496

Table 4. Regression models of Eurovision debate exposure on electoral participation.

	DV: Participation in EP elections
	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)	(6)
Debate watching (binary)	0.066	−0.126**			−0.123**
	(0.052)	(0.062)			(0.062)
Media coverage			0.131**	−0.059	−0.052	−0.047
			(0.052)	(0.060)	(0.060)	(0.061)
Debate watching (original 4-scale) (ref. no exposure to media coverage)
Yes, a little bit						−0.071
						(0.075)
Yes, most of it						−0.202**
						(0.092)
Yes, completely						−0.172
						(0.139)
Sociodemographics	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Other controls		✓		✓	✓	✓
Country-fixed effects	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Constant	−0.060	0.349***	−0.068	0.335***	0.358***	0.358***
	(0.067)	(0.082)	(0.068)	(0.082)	(0.083)	(0.083)
N	4582	4582	4582	4582	4582	4582
pseudo $R^2$	0.081	0.283	0.082	0.283	0.283	0.284

Note: Standard errors in parentheses; ${}^{\ast }p<0.1$, ${}^{\ast \ast }p<0.05$, ${}^{\ast \ast \ast }p<0.01$

Figure 1. Average marginal effect of debate watching on turnout by EU political interest.

Figure 2. Effects of performance evaluations on party choice: (a) intended party choice in flash wave and (b) reported party choice in post-election wave.

Figure 3. Effects of perceived debate winner on party choice: (a) intended party choice in flash wave and (b) reported party choice in post-election wave.

EBU (2020). Eurovision debate – EU elections 2019. European Broadcasting Union.

 Google Scholar

Presidency of the EC (2019). Debate 2019 – European parliament report (Audiovisual Unit report).

 Google Scholar