Emotional Reactions to the 2016 General Election Debates

This experimental study examines emotional reactions to the first and third 2016 presidential debates. Employing both pre/post-test questionnaires and facial recognition software, viewers reactions are tracked in real time during the debate and after the debate is over. Measures include, subject demographic characteristics, political attitudes and pre/post-test attitudes towards the candidates, as well as frame-by-frame tracking of emotional reactions during the debates in the experimental conditions.