With over a million Americans already voting, election season fully gets underway tonight as president Donald Trump and Democrat nominee Joe Biden gear up for their first televised debate.
The debate marks the first real clash of the two before the election on the 3rd of November.
Trump and Biden say they are both looking forward to having the debate. Viewers and onlookers will be subject to around 90 minutes of arguing between the pair during the political fight night.
Here’s everything you need to know about this crucial first debate:
When is the debate?
The debate is set to start at 9 PM EST and run until 10:30 PM.
Where is the debate?
The debate will take place at the Cave Western Reserve University and Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland.
The choice of location is important because Ohio has consistently been a swing state in recent elections. Even so, Trump won by a solid 8 points over Hilary Clinton in 2016. The state is slowly trending towards being more Republican, which may be down to the number of older white people living there compared to the national average.
Who is moderating the debate?
Your man in charge once the rhetorical bell rings will be Chris Wallace of Fox News. Fox News has always been staunchly Republican and defended the president, but Wallace is considered to be relatively independent and fair. At least when compared to his contemporaries.
Wallace earned praise when he interviewed Trump in July and challenged the president over coronavirus deaths and his claims that he aced a cognitive test. Trump has already made his distrust of Wallace clear, claiming that he is “controlled by the radical left.”
What format will the debate have?
The 90-minute debate will be divided into six 15-minute segments. The debate will air commercial-free. There will be no opening statements. Trump will get the first question.
Wallace says he wants to allow the debate to flow freely between the two. He likely won’t be fact-checking either candidate in real-time, as this would be too much of a time-consuming task. Wallace also says that he wants to be as “invisible as possible” and let the two have at each other.
Is anyone taking coronavirus precautions?
Some coronavirus measures are in place. For a start, the podiums are further apart than usual. Trump and Biden have also agreed to not shake hands before or after the debate. CNN expects that up to 70 people will be in the audience, which is a fraction of the number generally seen with a presidential debate.
What topics are on the table?
Topic selection was left up to the moderator, Wallace. Wallace chose his six topics, and the Commission on Presidential Debates announced them. The topics are;
- The records of the president and his challenger
- The Supreme Court
- The economy
- Coronavirus
- The integrity of the election
- Race and violence across America
How are Trump and Biden preparing?
Biden has prepared extensively for the debates. He has reportedly been preparing for days, including holding mock debates with Bob Bauer, former White House general counsel and current campaign advisor for the presidential hopeful. Bauer has reportedly adopted Trump’s debate style for these mock debates to help Biden prepare.
For his part, CBS News reports that Trump has used videos and flashcards to prepare rather than traditional rehearsal methods. Trump also says that Chris Christie and Rudy Giuliani have helped him prepare for the debate. As with Biden, Trump’s aides have studied how Biden debates and put together an “arsenal” of material for the president to counter Biden.
Where can I watch the debate?
As expected, the debates will be simple to watch in the United States. All major networks will air the debate across most channels. Americans will be practically inundated with choice for watching the debate. Most networks are also offering live coverage online.
The debate will also be easy to watch outside of the United States. It will air on C-Span, a non-profit cable channel that televises government proceedings. The channel also plans to run coverage of the debate on YouTube.
Outside of that, many news organizations worldwide, such as the BBC, are sure to be covering the debate in full.
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