Biden and Trump’s first election debate: 90 minutes can change the polls. What are the rules?

Millions of Americans are preparing to watch the first electoral confrontation between Joe Biden and Donald Trump in this campaign. The future US presidential candidate President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump will hold a televised debate on Thursday, June 27 at 9:00 pm local time (Friday, June 28 at 4:00 am Romanian time) on CNN.

Photo archive of the first Trump-Biden debate ahead of the 2024 US presidential election

For 90 minutes, the two opponents will face off on major topics of domestic and foreign policy.

For the first time in the history of SAU elections, televised debates will be held before the national conventions of both the Democratic and Republican parties, that is, before the candidates are officially nominated.

Rules agreed upon by both campaigns

– Microphones will be turned off during the debate unless one of the candidates is answering a question;

– The debate will take place without an audience in the studio;

– The candidates’ podium positions are decided by a coin toss. The Biden team wins, so they will decide the seats of the two candidates, while the Trump team decides the order of speaking at the end of the debate. The former president is the first to speak at the end of the debate;

– Candidates are not allowed to present previously written papers or other aids, but each will receive a notebook, a pen and a bottle of water for use during the debate;

– Campaign teams are not allowed to interact with candidates during commercial breaks, with a limit of two people;

The two campaigns are in direct talks over the debate to set their own rules, find moderators and posts. The Biden team has also proposed a debate between the vice presidential candidates. That would take place after the Republican National Convention in July, when the party’s nominees for the November election are formally decided.

Biden was at his rural residence at Camp David this week, preparing for a debate with a group of advisers.

He was assisted by chief of staff Jeffrey Zenz, counselor Anita Dunn, top campaign adviser Mike Donilon, former chief of staff Ron Klain and Biden’s personal attorney Bob Bauer, who played Trump in the debate.

Biden’s team is focusing on topics they believe will benefit the president – infrastructure investment, climate change, international politics and measures to combat immigration at the border.

Abortion rights, health care and gun control, all of which Biden strongly supports, will also be issues of debate, as well as inflation and employment.

The war in Ukraine and the war between Israel and Hamas will be hot topics. According to Reuters sources, Trump intends to stop aid to Ukraine if Kiev does not sit at the negotiating table with Moscow. In addition, Trump reportedly said in a closed-door meeting that Russia can do whatever it wants to NATO countries that do not contribute enough to the alliance budget. Recently, Putin has shown a preference for Trump, calling Trump a political victim of American justice.

Experts point out that Trump’s main goal is to show that Biden, 81, has lost his memory and mental acuity and is incapable of leading the country for another four years (he will be 82 in November).

Biden, for his part, will need to prove he’s fit for the role.

Trump’s strategy ahead of Biden debate

The race for the White House is extremely intense. Experts say the debate will be historic. Any hesitation could be costly, especially given the age of the incumbent president, and Joe Biden is often the subject of comment. Likewise, Trump has made scandalous remarks in which he threatened that “there will be a bloodbath” if he does not win the election.

On social media and at rallies, Trump suggested President Biden had taken performance-enhancing drugs before the debate. Then on Monday, he called Biden to get a drug test, just days after suggesting Biden spent much of his debate prep time sleeping.

The first electoral confrontation between the two men, organized by CNN, could prove decisive and the stakes are high. That’s because, four years later, the international situation has become more complicated.

Any misstep, any hesitation, any hesitation could be costly. That’s because, despite recently turning 78, just four years younger, Trump is ready to attack the Democratic leader’s ability to lead the country.

Most likely, about 18 million Americans will watch the showdown.

“This could go down as the most important presidential debate ever. The race is very close, as it has been the last few times. The two candidates are polar opposites in style, governing agenda and policies. The country is very divided and polarized,” said Aaron Carr, an expert on election debates at the University of Michigan.

The candidates are expected to hold another televised debate closer to Election Day in October.

Neither Biden nor Trump wants to debate with opponents in the internal elections to determine the candidate. On the Republican side, Trump missed all primary debates with his opponents, while the Democratic Party refused to hold any debates for the primary election. Biden refused to participate in the traditional televised dialogue organized by the Commission on Presidential Debates, rejecting the independent organization that has been handling these events since 1988. The US President’s campaign manager Jennifer O’Malley Dillon notified the commission in writing that he would not attend the debates scheduled for September 16, October 1 and October 9.

The US presidential election will be held on Tuesday, November 5, 2024. Elections will also be held for one-third of the seats in both houses of Congress – the House of Representatives and the Senate.