In a race that Joe Biden and Donald Trump are painting in historic terms, both are confident that tonight’s presidential debate could prompt Americans to pay closer attention and tilt the narrow group of undecided voters they dominate.
A poor performance by either could restart the race.
“This week brings us potentially one of the most consequential debates since Mr. Kennedy and Richard Nixon,” wrote veteran Republican pollster Frank Luntz, referencing the historic 1960 debate that many historians believe gave Kennedy a critical boost in the first debate on modern television. was.
The debate puts the sitting president back on stage with the fierce rival who skipped his inauguration and used his final televised meeting to go after his son. Trump warns that “if we don’t win this election, we won’t have a country left,” as he faces three criminal trials in addition to the one that just led to a historic conviction this spring.
Wars in Europe and the Middle East have the United States and its allies on edge, and Americans continue to express concerns about the economy and immigration and say the country is on the wrong path, giving moderators leverage to shape the land.
It sets up a pivotal moment in an election that both Biden and Trump describe in epic language, with Biden calling it the most important “in our lifetime” and Trump calling it “the most important election in the history of our country.”
‘Expectations are already high for Mr Trump, who challenged Mr Biden to debate any time or place of his choosing. “It is quite possible that Mr. Trump will regret having launched such a public challenge, and that Mr. Biden will regret having accepted the offer,” he said. aggregate in an opinion article.
The Trump and Biden campaigns negotiated ground rules after exchanging public challenges, with the Biden camp seeking an opportunity to restart the race before the traditional fall debates, and the Trump campaign taking the opportunity to return to the stage with the target of Trump’s attacks.
(The two men last shared the stage in a furious fight in Nashville where Trump accused Biden of corruption and referenced Hunter Biden and the ‘laptop from hell.’)
President Joe Biden’s team pushed to move up the debate from the traditional fall schedule. Polls put him behind Donald Trump in key states. In 2020, it was Biden who had the advantage during the fall debates
At a time of a fractured media landscape, millions of Americans are set to tune in to the event in real time at 9 pm tonight on CNN and other networks carrying the broadcast.
About 40 percent say they are likely to see and hear at least some of it. About the same number say they will watch clips after the fact.
Those takes will be almost inevitable for media consumers as broadcast, cable and online media cut and cut memorable moments and key criticisms or putdowns.
But party members are more likely than independents to tune in, a sign that even a candidate who fails to perform has room for improvement.
The first Kennedy-Nixon debate in 1960 attracted 65 million viewers. They were the first general election debates to be televised
As president, Donald Trump repeatedly interrupted Joe Biden during their 2020 debates. The two candidates traded attacks on the eve of the Atlanta debate
About six out of ten say they are “extremely” or “very likely” to watch the fight, indicating that tens of millions will watch what happens.
Biden may have had plans to eviscerate Trump on the airwaves over the summer and fall. But Trump was able to erase Biden’s cash-on-hand fundraising advantage, boosted by his criminal trial in Manhattan, making “earned media” events like the debates even more important.
Although a second debate is scheduled for September, Trump has threatened to withdraw from debates in the past and skipped the second scheduled debate in 2020. If either candidate holds out, it would leave the Atlanta race as voters’ only chance to evaluate the candidates’ side. -beside.
Biden signaled how much he is focused on what is at stake with his agenda. He moved to Camp David for a week to attend debate sessions, after resting at his Delaware beach house.
Although he has received daily briefings on national security and events as they unfolded, the move included the suspension of his public events. The White House did not even hold daily press briefings in his absence, as his top advisers helped prepare the president.
Even Trump, who avoids formal practice sessions, kept a relatively low profile, holding a few fundraisers and trying out some of his sharpest attacks at a campaign rally Saturday night, where he also talked about water pressure and other things that bother you.
Any event is critical in a close race, and this year’s election counts as such at this stage.
But “the presidential election is not a lottery,” Finished Pollster Nate Silver in a post introducing his new electoral model on Wednesday. That’s because even though national polls show a virtual tie, Trump has an electoral college lead, and polls in swing states show Trump leading Biden where he needs to go.
Each candidate faces their own challenges. With focus groups showing that many voters were put off by his repeated interruptions to Biden in 2020, Trump faces pressure to show some restraint, although his strength has been trying to dominate his opponents and level accusations that highlight their negative aspects.
Biden’s advisers know he must give consistent answers and avoid a signature gaffe, as Trump has repeatedly mocked his missteps and video clips that the White House calls “cheap fakes.”
You can take a little advice from former President Newt Gingrich, a Trump adviser whose wife Callista Gingrich was Trump’s ambassador to the Vatican.
“If I were Biden, I would stay away from the age issue and just say, ‘Look, I was wise enough not to try to overthrow the United States government,'” Gingrich said. NBC. ‘Go through a list of five things in a row and say, “I would rather be my age with wisdom than your complete lack of seriousness.”‘
Biden has one thing on his side: low expectations, fueled in part by Trump’s merciless attacks on his health and mental acuity.
Nearly half of registered voters believe President Joe Biden will fail in the debate, according to a new New York Times/Siena College poll. That includes 24 percent who think the president will do “not very well” and a quarter who think he will do “not at all well.”
