The first general election debate in a US presidential race will begin Thursday night, with President Biden and former President Trump expected to disparage each other in a showdown that will refocus attention on a hotly contested campaign.
As polls tighten but still show Trump with a narrow lead nationally and in most battleground states, the noisy showdown between two bitter rivals will contrast with the calm atmosphere: in a CNN studio in Atlanta, without an audience for the first time in a recent debate. history.
Most Americans have a negative view of both men, and a large majority have told pollsters they wish they could choose between other major-party candidates. But that doesn't diminish the stakes of the debate, which begins at 6 p.m. PDT on CNN and other outlets.
Critics say the main challenge for Biden, 81, is to prove he has the acuity and stamina to lead the world's most powerful nation. He will likely face tough questions about inflation that soared in 2021 and 2022 and a surge in illegal immigration that peaked at the U.S.-Mexico border in 2022.
Trump's critics say one of his biggest challenges is showing he cares about Americans outside his fervent political base. They will probably ask him to explain why he continues to perpetuate the fiction that he defeated Biden four years ago and why he appointed Supreme Court justices who eliminated women's right to have an abortion.
Many Americans will likely spend their early summer afternoons avoiding the storm. Even some political professionals (at least those not employed by the Trump and Biden camps) have been embarrassed by the spectacle that now looms.
“Never have so many people had such low expectations for the next leader of the free world,” said Mike Madrid, a Republican strategist in California who was a leader of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project. “Ending the night without a broken hip or a racial slur would seem to be the barometer of success.”
Biden’s team made clear in an interview that the president plans to attack Trump on multiple fronts: “by gutting reproductive rights, by promoting political violence and undermining our democratic institutions, and by doing the bidding of his billionaire donors to fund tax breaks for the ultra-rich and corporations that hurt seniors and the middle class.”
Trump supporters have a litany of complaints about Biden, saying the incumbent has a “terrible record” that includes “a border crisis, rampant inflation, a disastrous foreign policy and a war on American energy,” according to Jessica Millan Patterson , chairwoman of the California Republican Party.
Those who don't like what they hear from the two leading contenders have another option: tune in to a video broadcast from Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s campaign that will feature the independent candidate, who is still trailing in most polls. answering the same questions as the main contenders. CNN rejected Kennedy's offer to go on stage with Biden and Trump.
Commentators and good government groups have been yearning for a debate with real substance. But most also fear a repeat of the first debate between then-President Trump and Biden in 2020, when Trump repeatedly talked over Biden and moderator Chris Wallace failed to restore order.
Biden, exasperated, finally retorted: “Will you shut up, man?”
Last week, a nonpartisan group released a study showing a growing war of incivility at presidential debates, with interruptions up markedly in the Trump era. The organization, Open to Debate, tallied a total of 76 interruptions by the two candidates in the first debate of 2020, though the vitriol was noticeably down in the second debate, with just four interruptions.
In an attempt to control Thursday's exchange, CNN announced that it will mute the microphone of any candidate who has not been asked to answer a question.
Trump supporters have called out the CNN team and co-moderators Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, saying that Tapper, in particular, has shown a bias against the former president. They have also complained that Trump will be unfairly silenced.
At least one Democratic strategist, Dan Newman, said he understands why Biden's team wouldn't want Trump to yell at the current president. “But he does limit one of the ways Trump shows that he is…disgusting,” Newman said.
In a recent interview with Byron York of the Washington Examiner, Trump noted that he is not comfortable with the prospect of speaking in an empty studio.
“You don’t have an audience to read,” Trump said. “For me, the audience is easier because they’re telling you what’s going on, indirectly, with applause or without applause. This room is a sterile, dead room, which I guess is what they want.”
Trump also told York that he was “very aggressive” in his first 2020 debate with Biden, but that he got “great marks” in a second debate, when he was less combative.
Trump has not shied away from baseless claims in the run-up to the debate. He has hinted that Biden will not be able to perform without some pharmaceutical supplement.
“Look, he’s going to be excited about something, like he was about the State of the Union,” Trump told a campaign audience, without evidence. “He was high. That’s why I called in for the drug test.”
As for the tone he will set Thursday night, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee said: “I’ll probably look at the scene at that point. It’s like a fight. It depends on what the situation is.”
Aaron Kall, director of debate at the University of Michigan, said there remains considerable uncertainty about how the two candidates, the oldest ever to face each other for the presidency, will perform.
“The million-dollar question is whether Trump and President Biden have the self-control to stay focused throughout the debate or whether they might lose their cool,” said Kall, co-author of “Debating the Donald.” “Not knowing how the answer to this critical question will play out is a big reason tens of millions of Americans will tune in to find out Thursday night.”
