Joe BidenPresident of the United States, and Donald Trumphis predecessor and rival, will face each other this Thursday in the first debate for this year’s elections in that country. It is not the first time that both have debated in the context of a presidential race. They did so when the current president snatched the reelection bid from the tycoon, four years ago.
This first debate version 2024 will be on CNN in the city of Atlanta, and Both candidates are tied in the national polls, but the Republican is ahead in most states, a fact that will play in his favor in the November elections.
It is also about a historic debate over the age of the candidates (78, Trump; 81, Biden), and because a “face to face” had never been held before September, when both parties’ conventions are held.
It is also the first debate not organized by the Commission on Presidential Debates since 1988 and the first since the 1960 inaugural televised debate between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon to be held without an audience.
According to the FiveThirtyEight portal, the former president has 41% of voting intention. A percentage slightly higher than Biden’s 40.9%, who was able to regain ground in recent weeks. For the current president, a good performance in the debate is key to improving in the polls. Also to clear up some of the doubts about whether he can manage a second term at 81 years old.
On Wednesday, The New York Times published the latest survey with national data in which Trump appears with a three-point lead over Biden with 40% of voting intentions among likely voters.
Polls put both candidates within or very close to the margin of error, meaning Performance in the debate can be decisive in changing the trend in the polls and guiding the perception of voters.
Another important fact is that polls in the decisive states, that is, those that could lean towards one candidate or the other, give Trump an advantage in the majority.
In Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania the margin is a technical tie, while Trump has clear margins in Georgia, North Carolina, Nevada and Arizona.
An armored city without an audience
The debate between the Republican and Democratic candidates will take place at 9 p.m. local time (22 in Argentina) in a CNN television studio on the Techwood campus, in the center of Atlanta, which today woke up armored and with strong guard. police to guarantee the safety of the president and the former president. There will be no audience and it will last 90 minutes with two advertising breaks.
As is customary in debates, the candidates will stand on two podiums separated by 2.4 meters and will have a decoration behind them with the slogan “CNN Presidential Debate.”
The places were distributed by lottery and thus it was Biden’s turn to choose the right side of the television screen. Trump had to settle for the left.
Each will enter the studio through opposite entrances and it is not yet known if they will have – or want – to shake hands.
In front of them, the debate moderators, journalists Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, will be seated at a table. They will ask the candidates questions, and they will have two minutes to respond.
mute button
Biden and Trump will not have a stopwatch as such: above the cameras they will see lights that will turn yellow when they have 15 seconds left to speak, flash when there are five seconds left and turn red when their time has run out.
Only the microphone of the candidate who has the turn to speak will be on and his rival will have it off. Anything you say will be virtually inaudible to viewers.
This is an attempt to avoid Let the shouts and interruptions that took place in the two tense face-to-face meetings between Biden and Trump in the 2020 elections be repeated.
Neither candidate will be allowed to speak to their advisors during the two breaks and they are not allowed to take notes beforehand, although they will be given a notebook and pen to take notes.
About a thousand journalists from around the world are accredited for a debate that is expected to break audience records. However, none of them will be able to be in the CNN studios. They will have to follow the debate from the stands of an adjacent basketball stadium, the Hank McCamish Pavilion, where the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets usually play. On the playing field, advisors from both campaigns will be there to give interviews and speak to the press, trying to convince journalists that their candidate was the clear winner of the day.
With information from EFE
