The president Joe Biden and his GOP rival Donald Trump will meet in a debate on Thursday that will provide both candidates with a unique opportunity to try to change the political narrative.
Biden, the Democratic incumbent, will have an opportunity to reassure voters that, at 81, he is capable of leading the United States in a number of challenges.
Meanwhile 78-year-old Trump could use the moment to convince tens of millions of viewers that he is fit to return to the Oval Office despite his felony conviction in New York, the AP reported.
Biden and Trump will face strong resistance, including from a public tired of the drama of party politics. According to sociological surveys both candidates are disliked by the majority of Americans and offer sharply diverging views on almost every major issue. Trump has promised sweeping plans to overhaul American government if he returns to the White House, and Biden has argued that his opponent is an existential threat to the nation’s democracy.
Election Day is just over four months away, and both candidates’ appearances have rare potential to change the trajectory of the race. Every word and gesture will be analyzed not only for what the two men say, but because of the way they interact with each other and how they cope under pressureAP notes.
“Debates don’t usually change voters’ perceptions in a way that changes their vote: They usually reinforce, not persuade”says Kathleen Hall Jamison, director of the Annenberg Center for Public Policy at the University of Pennsylvania and an expert on presidential communications.. “What makes this debate different is that we essentially have two presidents (current and former – ed.) about whom voters have very well-formed views. But that doesn’t mean those views are correct or consistent with , which voters will see on stage.”
For the first time
Trump and Biden they haven’t been on the same stage or even spoken since their last debate weeks before the 2020 presidential election. Trump skipped Biden’s inauguration after leading an unprecedented and unsuccessful effort to reverse his loss to Biden, which culminated in a Jan. 6 riot by his supporters at the Capitol.
The upcoming debate on CNN will be the earliest debate held before a general election in history of the USA. It is the first-ever televised general election presidential debate hosted by a single media outlet, after both staffs withdrew from the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates, which has hosted each debate since 1988.
According to television rules, independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. did not qualify to run.
In an effort to avoid a repeat of their chaotic 2020 showdown, Biden insisted — and Trump agreed — the debate to be held without an audience and to allow the the television to mute candidates’ microphones when it is not their turn to speak. There will be two commercial breaks – another departure from modern practice. The candidates agreed not to consult with staff or other personswhile the cameras are off.
“You have two men who haven’t debated in four years,” said Philip Raines, a Democratic political consultant who helped former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton prepare for the 2016 debates with Trump.
Biden and Trump, he said, “they don’t like each other, haven’t seen each other and (are) pretty “rusty” heading into the biggest night of their lives. That sums up the stakes on Thursday.”
Both sides recognize the stakes
The debate comes days after the second anniversary of the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, which ended the federally guaranteed right to abortion and thrust reproductive rights into the center of politics ever since.
The shooting also comes just after Biden took steps to reduce the number of migrants entering the country by limiting asylum applications at the US-Mexico border. Trump has made illegal immigration a central theme of his campaign.
The wars in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip have loomed over the US election, as have the candidates’ sharply diverging views on America’s role in the world and its alliances.
Differences in inflation, tax policy and government investment to build infrastructure and fight climate change further heighten the contrasts.
The political context heightens the tension
The Supreme Court is on the verge of announcing its decision on whether Trump is legally protected for his alleged role in the Jan. 6 riot against the Capitol. Meanwhile, Trump was recently convicted in New York of participating in a “hush money” scheme that prosecutors say was intended to illegally influence the 2016 election.
Who how is it cooked
Biden spent the week leading up to the debate in seclusion at Camp David with senior White House aides and campaign staff, as well as a group of longtime advisers and allies. A mock stage was built at the complex to simulate the studio where the debate would take place, and Biden’s personal attorney, Bob Bauer, impersonated Trump in practice sessions.
Aides say the job reflects Biden’s understanding that he can’t afford to improvise.
Trump, meanwhile, continued his more unstructured preparation for the debates with two days of meetings at his Florida mansion, calling allies and supporters and trying out attacks through social media posts and in interviews with conservative outlets.
Trump and his aides have spent months studying the signs they say indicate Biden’s waning stamina. In recent days, they have begun predicting that Biden will be stronger on Thursday, with the goal of raising expectations for the incumbent president.
Candidates are thinking about Georgia
Atlanta, the debate’s host city, has symbolic and practical significance for the campaign, but each side believes what happens there will resonate widely.
In 2020, Biden secured Georgia’s 16 electoral votes by less than 12,000 votes out of a total of 5 million cast. Trump pushed for the state’s Republican leadership to overturn Biden’s victory based on false theories of voter fraud, memorably being caught on tape saying he wanted to “find 11,780 votes.” He is now facing racketeering charges in the state.
Both headquarters held numerous events in Atlanta leading up to the debate, including competitive events at local black-owned businesses. Trump stopped by a gathering at Rocky’s Barber Shop in Buckhead on Friday to talk about his fight with Biden and to question whether CNN anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash would treat him fairly.
After the debate, both Biden and Trump will travel to the states they hope to win this fall. Trump is heading to Virginia, a former battleground state that has shifted toward Democrats in recent years.
Biden will travel to North Carolina, where he is expected to hold his biggest campaign rally so far in a state Trump narrowly won in 2020.
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