All of these charts were made from a recent YouGov Poll that was done on October 16th and 17th of a random national sample of 1,000 adults, and has a margin of error of about 3.8 points.
Looking at the charts above, note that 62% of Americans say candidate debates are important in helping them make up their minds about who to vote for. And about 68% of Americans watched the presidential debates in 2012.
Those are some pretty significant numbers, and could make someone think debates are a very important part of our electoral process -- and I think that would be correct in a presidential election. But this is an off-year election -- not a presidential election. Are debates as important in an off-year election?
The charts below would tend to show the answer is NO. Note that 68% of the public said they did not watch any candidate debates this year, and only 27% said they did watch (about one out of four people). And only 9% said it helped them to figure out who to vote for.
Frankly, I'm not even sure it affected 9% of the vote. In off-year candidate debates, I think most of the audience tune in to support a candidate they have already made up their minds to vote for -- and I doubt the statewide debates affect enough votes to matter.
Are off-year electoral debates an exercise in futility. I would have to say yes. A whole lot more people would need to watch to make them worthwhile.