Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?
This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.
Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.
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Notes -
How many people are persuaded by watching a debate?
Popular streamer Destiny once remarked that in a public debate, only 20% are open to having their minds changed (though you can also seed doubt in your opposition's supporters), and he targets the audience with that figure in mind. Pew suggests that only 10% of people in the 2016 election decided their votes during/just after the presidential debates, but 25% said the debates were very important in helping decide who to vote for.
It seems to me that a lot of people have opinions on how large or decisive this group is without actually knowing how many people are in it.
85% of all people will believe made up statistics.
As for your original question, it really depends on what is being debated, the seriousness of the topic to the listeners and the strength of the arguments presented.
Can you elaborate? I think that when Trump was asked in a debate about his comments on racial profiling, there were many progressives for whom the topic was very important because they believed it was a racist policy but never bothered doing any research of their own beyond what was being said in the debate. Should we assume these people don't care or that they were never going to change their minds in the first place despite the importance of the topic?
The odds of the progressive types changing their mind on such an issue over a single debate is very low indeed, as it's one of their sacred cows.
Someones willingness to research a topic has no bearing on the seriousness with which that person looks at the topic.
Wait, how can that be possible? Presumably, you're not going to research a topic you don't think is important, and I find that most people do not treat important things as non-serious.
Of course you will, I'm a historical wargamer and frequently research topics of no consequence other than to sate my curiosity and interest in the given topic. There are plenty of people who will delve to incredible depths on topics for no reason other than the desire to know more.
A far greater predictor for if you will research something is interest in the subject, how important you judge something to be can play a role in that, but it doesn't seem to be a major one, given how absurdly heated people can get on topics that they actually have almost no knowledge of.
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