Democratic President Joe Biden and his Republican rival Donald Trump will take the stage for a debate on Thursday night that will give voters a rare face-to-face conversation between the two oldest candidates for the US presidency.
Biden, 81, and Trump, 78, will be under pressure to show their grasp on the issues and avoid verbal spats as they seek a breakout moment in a race that opinion polls show has been deadlocked for months.
The 90-minute televised debate, which will be the first between a sitting president and a former president, will air on CNN at 9 pm ET (0100 GMT on Friday) and will take place much earlier than usual – more than four months before Election Day on November 5.
It comes at a time when voters are deeply polarized and deeply anxious about the state of American politics. Two-thirds of voters in a Reuters/Ipsos poll in May said they worried there could be violence after the election, nearly four years after a mob of Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol.
Trump will take the stage as a convicted felon, still facing three criminal counts, including his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. The former president, who continues to falsely claim his defeat was the result of fraud and has suggested he would punish his political enemies if returned to power, will need to convince undecided voters that he poses no mortal threat to democracy, as Biden claims.
Biden arrived in Atlanta on Thursday afternoon under tremendous pressure to deliver a strong performance after Republicans have spent months claiming his powers have weakened with age.
Before the debate, the Biden campaign released a video in which Trump’s former allies said they would not support him this time. “Just take the word of the people who know Donald Trump best — he is unfit to be president,” Biden said on X.
Biden’s advisers say he will emphasize Trump’s role in threatening access to abortion, portray him as a threat to democratic norms and remind voters of Trump’s often chaotic 2017-2021 tenure.
Trump advisers said he will focus on high inflation and record numbers of illegal immigrants entering the country under Biden, as well as questions about his global leadership during the wars in Gaza and Ukraine.
Trump, whose plane landed in Georgia about 3-1/2 hours before the debate, posted on social media what appeared to be advice from a former member of his administration on how to respond to attacks on his environmental record. The notes from former Environmental Protection Agency chief Andrew Wheeler urged Trump to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and encourage domestic energy production.
A campaign spokesman said the post was not a mistake. “The Biden team has been previewing its attacks all week — even if they are stupid attacks,” spokesman Stephen Cheung said.
Disliked pair
While national polls show a neck-and-neck contest, Biden trails Trump in most electoral states and has lost his financial lead recently after Trump was criminally convicted of attempting to cover up a payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.
“Biden needs to change the status quo, and this debate is the best opportunity yet to do that,” said Jacob Rubashkin, an elections analyst at the nonpartisan website Inside Elections.
Neither Biden nor Trump is popular and many Americans are deeply ambivalent about their choice. About a fifth of voters say they have not chosen a candidate, are leaning toward a third-party candidate or may sit out the election, the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll showed.
“He’s a terrible candidate,” said Kathy Elder, a 59-year-old sales manager. She voted for Trump in 2016 but will vote for Biden in 2020.
Elder said she gets chills every time the two talk — for different reasons.
When it comes to Biden, he said, “Can he get up to speed on this and really talk?” As for Trump, he said, “What’s going to come out of his mouth?”
Biden and Trump have made little attempt to hide their mutual dislike. During their first debate in 2020, Trump spoke aggressively over Biden, angering many voters.
CNN will attempt to avoid cross-talk by muting the candidates’ microphones when it is not their turn. The debate will take place without an audience, and none of the candidates are allowed to bring notes or props, though they will have pen and paper.
Trump’s niece Mary Trump, who has been a critic of her uncle, will join Biden’s campaign in the media spin room after the debate, a campaign official said.
The second and final debate in this year’s campaign is scheduled for September.
View a Reuters photo slideshow of past debates.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
