This Thursday night – at three in the morning on Friday Spanish time – the president of the United States, Joe Bidenhe will face his rival, the former president Donald Trump, in the first of the two presidential debates that will take place before the elections next November. The proposal, to some extent unexpected, came from Biden’s caucus last May. Trump accepted within a few hours.
As soon as the date was known, the political correspondents of the American media raised their eyebrows. A Thursday at the end of June is – they concluded – too soon. The first televised presidential debate, which featured the then Vice President Richard Nixon and the very young John F. Kennedy, was held in September 1960 and since then They usually occur late in the fall.. A few weeks before the appointment with the polls.
According to the Biden campaign, the election of such an early date It has to do with the electoral cycle itself. On the one hand, it is intended that those voters who cast their ballot weeks in advance can see, at least, a crossing between both candidates before going to the post office. And, on the other hand, it is hoped that Biden does not dedicate the last weeks of the campaign to preparing an event of these characteristics. Hence the second presidential debate It’s also going to take place fairly soon: September 10.
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Two arguments as legitimate as they are rational that, however, have not convinced everyone. «Given that they are going to meet three months earlier than usual, in theory there would be time, in both parties, to find an alternative candidate in the case of a catastrophic performance,” said this week Evan Osnos, one of the political analysts of the magazine The New Yorker. He did so after reminding his audience of the age of both contestants, 81 years and 77 yearsand the possibility that one of them – and it is Biden who is in focus in this regard – slips in a bad way or goes completely blank.
Another novelty is who organizes the event. For the first time since 1988 it will not be the Commission on Presidential Debates but a private chain: CNN (ABC News will be in charge of setting up the September one). This is due to the current president’s complaints after the debates that preceded the last elections. Biden maintains that that format was designed to promote “big shows” instead of a solid exchange of ideas, projects and points of view between the two people who aspire to govern the most powerful country in the world.
A poster promoting the debate between Biden and Trump at CNN headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.
Reuters
Hence, at Biden’s request, the format imposed by CNN does not include public attendance and hence, also, it will give the moderators, the veterans Jack Tapper and Dana Bash, the possibility of turn off the microphone of the candidate who does not have the speaking turn at that moment.
Many are surprised to learn that Trump has agreed to all these conditions and, above all, to be moderated by two people he considers openly hostile. Especially when Biden has refused to have other debates with him beyond the two agreed upon.
According to Garrett Ross of the magazine PoliticalTrump’s acceptance fits with a strategy based on keeping expectations low. “It’s a way of shift the blame to the moderators if they don’t do it right“, Explain. The problem, according to some observers, is that he is also lowering Biden’s every time he defines him as an old man who is too senile to be functional. Therefore, it is enough for him to be calm, articulate and minimally forceful to score a point.
Regarding the lines of attack that can be expected from each candidate, it is very likely that Biden will bring up the issue of abortionthe Trump’s legal problems after being found guilty of falsifying invoices to cover up the payment of bribes to porn actress Stormy Daniels and her role in the assault on the Capitol. As for Trump, he is expected to bring the issue of immigration – with special emphasis on a border crisis that is far from resolved – and the progress of an economy beset by the inflation.
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Finally, there are the expectations that this first presidential debate contains. Who is it addressed to? Mainly to that portion of the electorate that is not only undecided but directly fed up with the panorama. What some pollsters have defined as “double haters”. People who will not vote or who, if they do, lean towards one of the independent candidates that are still in the limelight. People who in other types of elections could still be ignored but in these, given that the thing could depend on a few tenths, they are worth their weight in gold.
“It is unlikely that Biden or Trump will be able to seduce them”says Amber Phillips, political correspondent for the Washington Post. “What it is about is turning the rival into someone so difficult to digest that the need arises to vote for the opposite option.”
