總統大選電視辯論對於首投族之政治傳播效果：以2012年台灣總統選舉為例

The Political-Communication Effects of Televised Presidential Debates on First-Time Voters: The Example of 2012 Taiwan President Election

本文旨在探討電視公民辯論會在選舉的情境中，對於選民造成的政治傳播效果。電視辯論在台灣仍屬新興的政治傳播工具，相關的研究仍屬少見，其是否會增加選民投票意願以及其他形式的政治參與為本文最主要的研究問題，且相較於僅聚焦於不同媒介使用對選舉參與影響的過去研究，本文還進一步討論閱聽人對電視辯論效果的評價和主辦電視辯論媒體的認同。具體而言，本文針對首投族，以實驗法就曾經觀看2012年總統大選電視辯論者與未曾觀看者，比較所造成的政治傳播效果。研究結果發現：在政治效果上，電視辯論可以提高選民的議題性選舉知識，且觀看者比未觀看者，有較高的比率會改變投票的支持意向；在媒體評估效果方面，有觀看電視辯論的選民，會產生較佳的媒體效果評價、對於主辦辯論的媒體也有較高的認同；最後，選民長期的政治興趣、政治參與度、媒體依賴程度、電視使用習慣，皆會干擾電視辯論對選民的政治傳播效果。研究結果肯定電視辯論在政治選舉所扮演的正面角色，並提供相關的理論與實務意涵。

This paper aims to explore the political-communication effects of televised debates on voters in election contexts. In Taiwan, televised debates are still an emerging political-communication tool and an underresearched topic. The major research question in this paper is does televised debates increases voters' turnout intentions and other forms of political participations. Additionally, compared with previous studies which only focused on the impact of the use of different media on election participations, the current papers further discuss the audience's effectiveness evaluations on televised debates and identification with the medium through which the debates are held. Specifically, this paper focuses on first-time voters and conducts an experiment to compare the political-communication effects between voters who watched televised debates of the 2012 presidential election and voters who did not. Results show that watching televised debates can increase voters' issue-related election knowledge. Furthermore, there is a higher possibility for voters who watched televised debates to change their voting target. For medium-evaluation effects, voters who watched debates generate more favorable impact on medium-effectiveness evaluations and medium identification. Finally, voters' long-term political interests, political participation, medium dependence, and TV usage habits moderate the political-communication effects of televised debates. The research findings affirm the positive role of televised debates in political elections and provide related theoretical and practical implications.