Trump and Biden in the first debate before the presidential elections

This Thursday, June 27, the President of the United States Government, Democrat Joe Biden, and the Republican candidate, Donald Trump, face each other in the first debate before the November presidential elections. As reported by the American media, this will be the earliest face-to-face meeting in the country’s history: five months before the elections.

Context. Neither Biden nor Trump have participated in presidential debates since they last faced off on October 22, 2020. A lot has changed since then. The country has experienced a pandemic, a siege of the Capitol – the building that houses the legislative branch – or the repeal of the federal right to abortion. In addition, the United States has been involved in two world conflicts: Ukraine and Palestine.

How candidates arrive. Trump is now a criminal, found guilty of 34 crimes by a New York jury for the Stormy Daniels case – the payment of a bribe to a porn actress. Biden has become an unpopular president, facing deep opposition not only from Republicans but also from the rank and file of his party, especially since the start of the war in Gaza. In addition, the current president of the Government faces the perception among voters that he is too old to re-validate the position, not in vain Biden is the first octogenarian president in the history of the country.

• Hoaxes about Biden’s health. As the presidential election approaches, the spread of videos that try to accentuate the slowness and clumsiness of Biden’s movements has increased. At Newtral we have denied some of them, such as the videos in which the president tries to sit in a “non-existent” chair or images of him supposedly walking “disoriented” at an official event.

What the surveys say. Polls have shown little movement between Trump and Biden ahead of the November presidential election, according to polling firm FiveThirtyEight, a poll aggregator. According to the latest data as of June 20, the Republican would win by between one and three points over the Democrat.