Election 2017: Do television debates change any minds in the run-up to the general election?

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is interviewed by Jeremy Paxman during a joint Channel 4 and Sky News general election programme recorded at Sky studios in Osterley, west London. Picture: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire

Some of them have been fairly entertaining, but is there really any point to them? Have they changed the mind of anybody watching them?

The answer is almost certainly no. As a way of converting undecided voters watching the entire programme they are totally pointless.

Because the fact is that most of those who watch the whole programme are those who are already engaged in the political process. And they are people who have almost certainly made up their minds and look on the debate as a way of confirming their own side is better than the other.

Those who are genuinely undecided are far more likely to be people who have, at best, a minimal interest in politics – and who will probably make do with a soundbite they hear on the news... if they haven’t turned that over to something else!

The big show at the start of the week was the Channel 4/Sky News programme with both Jeremy Corbyn and Theresa May appearing and being questioned by the audience, and then put on the spot by Jeremy Paxman.

Both party leaders had clearly done a lot of preparation for the programme and both would have felt reasonably content with their performance by the end of the evening.

Neither had done anything stupid during their section of the programme that would be played ad nauseam on the news broadcasts the next day – but neither had come up with a killer line that their supporters would love either.

Mr Corbyn’s supporters liked his relaxed style and his quick responses – such as when Mr Paxman said: “I had to read the Labour manifesto.” And he shot back: “I had to write it!”

But it was hardly great television. The last time a debate really stuck in the mind was in 2010, when both Gordon Brown and David Cameron were falling over themselves to say “I agree with Nick.”

That helped Nick Clegg a bit – he ended up as deputy prime minister for five years – but his party now looks to be fighting for its parliamentary survival.

It was also very clear by the end of Monday’s programme why Mrs May didn’t really want to do any of these televised debates.

She is clearly uncomfortable in front of the cameras and does not feel at ease.

She had been briefed and was prepared for the questions – but was determined to answer them in the way she wanted, even though that meant she came away looking rather evasive on questions like police and health service funding.

But I doubt that will have worried her fans – they liked her answers on Brexit.

By the same token, his critics may have enjoyed the questions to Mr Corbyn about his security comments and his views of the IRA and the Falklands campaign in the 1980s – but his supporters already knew about them and will not have been swayed.

Where the leaders may have engaged rather more with floating voters was in their appearances on BBC1’s One Show, with the “kinder” interview technique.

Mrs May brought husband Philip along for her interview at the start of the campaign, but even with him sitting next to her didn’t look as comfortable as Mr Corbyn on the sofa.

But is the ability of someone to look relaxed in the presence of Alex Jones and Matt Baker or Ore Oduba really going to convince anyone of their ability to run the country?

The big BBC political programme is tomorrow night’s Question Time special, with Mrs May and Mr Corbyn appearing separately (again).

I suspect he is looking forward to it more than she is.

I suspect he will look more relaxed than she does.

And I suspect both will have been prepared to within an inch of their lives.

But will it make any real difference? Is there anyone out there who doesn’t have a real interest in politics, and hasn’t already made up their mind, who will tune in to decide? The people the politicians really need to be talking to are those who are down at the pub or club, not at home thinking about politics.

There’s an old saying that in general elections there are five or six weeks of campaigning, which end up with everyone voting just how they planned at the start. If that’s really the case then these election programmes really are pointless!