This week’s debate between President Biden and former President Trump will be unlike any in the 64 years since televised presidential debates began.
From hosting conferences to unique timings, this event breaks tradition in many ways. This debate is expected to set a key barometer for the general election race and could play a pivotal role for both candidates.
Here are five key differences audiences will see in Thursday’s game:
president vs former president
This is not the first time that a sitting president and a former president faced off in a general election. But Thursday will mark the first meeting between the two figures on a televised debate stage, bringing yet another layer of intrigue to the Biden-Trump meeting.
The two candidates had a pair of memorable debates four years ago, the first of which is widely remembered for Trump’s constant bullying and interruption of Biden and host Chris Wallace, and did the former president no favors in the final weeks of the campaign. Didn’t even give it.
However, this did not dissuade Trump from taking this action. He has been vocal for months about wanting to debate Biden whenever possible, perhaps sensing an opportunity with polls offering a rosier outlook for the former president.
Trump supporters see this meeting between the two White House residents as an opportunity to compare records, and see economic and immigration arguments in their favor.
“It’s pretty unique. … “We have a very unique opportunity to examine the story on tape.” Ahead of Thursday, Sen. Eric Schmidt (R-Missouri), who helped Trump prepare for the debate, spoke about the confrontation between the two presidents. “This whole debate has its own life, but I’m confident (President Trump) will do well.”
The first televised debate in history
Thursday’s showdown will be the first televised presidential debate in U.S. history in about three months and will essentially kick off the general election in a nod to how many voters have cast early ballots in recent years.
“These days, more information is good and people will care,” Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) told The Hill. “We expect more people to get involved in the future, and that’s a good thing for our democracy.”
This was one of the key complaints the Biden campaign had about the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), which has long organized fall events.
Biden’s top adviser, Jen O’Malley Dillon, said in a letter to the committee that “tens of millions of Americans would have already voted” before the first proposed debate, citing it as one of many reasons the campaign disagreed. Conference slabs.
Previously, the first debate between major party candidates was on September 23, 1976, when then-President Ford and former Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter (Democrat) met.
CNN hosts the show
Avoiding the committee also means one network, CNN, will be fully in charge of operations starting Thursday night, a big change for voters.
Networks will in fact be the third major player in this discussion. Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, two of CNN’s most respected news anchors, will serve as co-hosts. And compared to previous moderators, you will have additional tools to control your work.
For one thing, both candidates will have their microphones muted unless they speak, a major change from past years.
Perhaps more shocking is the lack of a studio audience, the first time since 1960. Biden’s campaign called for a change after the two 2020 debates.
“It takes away from the Jerry Springer feel of the bashing that Trump and Biden are likely to give each other, and it becomes less interesting to do something like that without a crowd to cheer,” said Ron Bonjean, a Republican strategist. Co-founder of Rokk Solutions.
The 90-minute event will also include two commercial breaks, during which neither campaign will be allowed to strategize with their candidates.
absence of committee
CNN’s presence left out the CPD, which has dominated the structure of the debate since 1988, due to complaints from both sides.
The committee has long been considered a political boogeyman for the Republican Party, especially since 2012 when then-CNN anchor Candy Crowley fact-checked Republican candidate Mitt Romney live during his second debate with former President Obama. CPD ultimately agreed that it was a “mistake” to allow her to conduct the event.
But surprisingly, it was Democrats who dealt the committee a fatal blow after what they perceived as a number of missteps by the Biden campaign in 2020. In addition to the first proposed debate just weeks after early voting began, O’Malley Dillon criticized the committee: Two debates four years ago described an inability or unwillingness to enforce the rules and a “model of building huge attractions with large audiences.”
“The debate should be viewed on television and at home for the benefit of the American electorate, not as entertainment for an in-person audience with rowdy or destructive partisans and donors who consume valuable debate time with loud approval or derision. We have to,” O’Malley Dillon said.
The committee operated extensively behind the scenes, meaning viewers Thursday might not notice much of a difference other than the audience and lack of CNN branding. But political operatives who have been influenced in recent years are wondering what Thursday will bring from a fundamental standpoint.
“It feels like the referee is being taken out to set the terms of a fair debate, and CNN is trying to step into that role,” Bonjean said. “We will find out how effective they are.”
predecessor to the convention
The late June debate also marks a major change to the traditional rhythm of presidential election season in that the party’s convention will be removed from the first major agenda item on the calendar.
Thursday’s presidential election will be held more than two weeks before Republicans gather in Milwaukee for their fourth annual conference. This is a complete reversal since the final convention took place about a month before the first debate. The Democratic National Convention is about six weeks away.
Democrats are hoping Thursday will raise the bar for voters who until now had not anticipated the general election and will sense the race sooner than they otherwise would.
One Democratic Party agent said, “This is an important opportunity for the president to set goals for 2024.” “Trump has been the Republican candidate for almost a year, there’s no doubt about it. “The Republican National Convention is a coronation.”
“It’s something everyone knows and it’s time voters realized it too,” the agent added.
