RoundTalk

Televised political debates are vanishing: does that hurt democracy?

English · C1 worksheet Based on the RoundTalk episode of

Free for classroom use. Students listen to the first 75 seconds and read the beginning of the debate, then work on the tasks. The answer key is on the last page. The panelists are fictional characters with AI voices.

Episode page
1 · Listen (first 75 seconds)

2 · Read

Host

Hello and welcome. We're opening up a conversation today about something that's been quietly reshaping American politics, and frankly, it's a bit alarming—televised debates are simply vanishing. In 2026, twenty-one of thirty-five Senate races have no debate scheduled, and half of the most competitive governor's races are going dark as well. The question cutting through all this is sharp: are candidates strategically running from the debate stage because they fear exposure, or have debates themselves become yesterday's technology in a world where TikTok and micro-targeted ads do the real work? To unpack that, we've brought together Margaret Chen, a campaign strategist who's spent eighteen years managing statewide races and knows exactly how campaigns allocate their resources these days; Robert Hendricks, a broadcast journalist and debate moderator for thirty years who's watched the entire ecosystem shift beneath his feet; and James Rivera, a social media strategist who tracks where voters are actually paying attention in 2026.

Host

Margaret, let's start where the rubber meets the road: when a candidate tells you debate is a waste of time, what are they really saying?

Margaret Chen

What they're really saying is: the downside is asymmetric. Look, the math is simple: one unscripted soundbite in Ohio or Texas travels further than ninety minutes of policy. Nobody wins a debate. You can absolutely lose one.

Robert Hendricks

No, no, wait — sorry, but that's backwards. The soundbite travels because the ninety minutes happened. Strip out the unscripted hour and Ohio voters get nothing but Ramaswamy's ad buy. That's not risk management. That's hiding.

Host

James, over to you.

James Rivera

Hiding from whom, though? That's the thing—voters have moved on. Acton says she'd rather talk to Ohioans directly, and honestly, her vertical video gets seen. Ohio broadcast viewership for a gubernatorial debate? A rounding error against a TikTok feed.

Robert Hendricks

Voters didn't move on — they were left. Nobody scheduled the debate for them to skip.

Key vocabulary

  • gubernatorial — relating to a governor or state governor election
  • downside — negative consequence or risk of something
  • unscripted — spoken without being prepared or written beforehand
  • viewership — number of people watching a broadcast or show
  • midterm — election held halfway through a president's term
  • polarized — divided into opposing groups with conflicting views

Comprehension questions

  1. Why do Margaret Chen's candidates believe debates are a waste of time?
  2. What is Robert Hendricks' main objection to Margaret Chen's argument about debate risk?
  3. According to James Rivera, why do some candidates prefer direct voter contact over televised debates?
  4. What does Robert Hendricks mean when he says voters 'were left' rather than they 'moved on'?

True or false?

  1. Robert Hendricks has worked as a broadcast journalist and debate moderator for thirty years. T / F
  2. In 2026, fifteen of thirty-five Senate races have no debate scheduled. T / F
  3. James Rivera believes that gubernatorial debate viewership on broadcast television is insignificant compared to TikTok engagement. T / F
  4. Margaret Chen argues that candidates lose debates more often than they win them. T / F

Fill the gaps

downsidegubernatorialunscripted
  1. What they're really saying is: the   is asymmetric.
  2. Look, the math is simple: one   soundbite in Ohio or Texas travels further than ninety minutes of policy.
  3. Ohio broadcast viewership for a   debate?

Discuss in pairs

  1. Do you think televised debates are still an important way for voters to evaluate political candidates, or has social media genuinely made them obsolete? Why?
  2. If you were a candidate in a competitive race, would you choose to debate your opponent on television, and what factors would influence your decision?
  3. What responsibility do television networks, social media platforms, and candidates themselves have to ensure voters have access to unscripted political content?

The whole debate, free every day Students can hear the full 6-minute episode with a synced transcript in the RoundTalk app.

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Answer key

Comprehension
  1. Because one unscripted soundbite travels further than ninety minutes of policy, and candidates can lose a debate but cannot really win one.
  2. He argues that soundbites only travel because the ninety-minute debate happened in the first place, and avoiding debate means voters receive only candidate advertising instead of unscripted content.
  3. Because voters are now primarily on platforms like TikTok rather than watching broadcast television, so vertical video reaches more people than a gubernatorial debate would.
  4. He means that candidates deliberately chose not to schedule debates, so voters had no opportunity to attend them—voters did not abandon debates of their own volition.
True or false
  1. True
  2. False
  3. True
  4. True
Gaps
  1. downside
  2. unscripted
  3. gubernatorial

roundtalk · https://www.getroundtalk.com/listen/english/c1/televised-political-debates-are-vanishing-does-that-hurt-democracy/worksheet/