Presidentialness

For Carter, who during the primaries had emerged from the oblivion of "Jimmy who?", the debates offered a challenge as well as an opportunity — to convince voters that his "presidentialness" was better than the incumbent's.

Likewise, Perot continued to work on the miscellaneous goal of proving his own presidentialness via use of statistics and common sense.

Some scholars also suggest that debates activate the electorate, make it easier for candidates to be held accountable on their campaigns, increase the public's acceptance of the candidates, give voters a chance to test the "presidentialness" of the candidates under pressure, […]