ATLANTA (AP) — President Joe Biden And his Republican rival Donald Trumpare scheduled to debate on Thursday, a rare opportunity for both candidates to try to reframe the political narrative.
As the Democratic incumbent, Biden has a chance to reassure voters. At 81 years old, he is competent. The mission is to lead the United States through various challenges. Meanwhile, 78-year-old President Trump moment Trying to overcome the past Felony conviction in New York And convince an audience of tens of millions that he is temperamentally fit to return to the Oval Office.
Biden and Trump go into the night facing stiff headwinds, including from a public tired of the chaos of partisan politics. Both candidates are disliked by a majority of Americans. voteand provide A very different vision Trump has made promises on virtually every core issue. A major plan to reform the U.S. government He returned to the White House and Biden Opponent It would pose an existential threat to the country’s democracy.
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With just over four months until Election Day, their performances have a rare chance of changing the trajectory of the campaign: Every word and gesture will be analyzed, not just for what they say, but for how they interact with each other and handle pressure.
“Debates don’t often change voter perceptions in a way that changes their vote; they usually reinforce rather than persuade,” said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania and an expert on presidential communications. “What makes this debate different from others is that we have essentially two sitting presidents about whom voters have very well-formed views. But that doesn’t mean that those perceptions are correct or that they match what voters see onstage.”
The debate was a series of firsts
Trump and Biden have never shared the same stage or even spoken to each other. Since the last debate A few weeks before the 2020 presidential election. Trump Biden will not attend the inauguration After leading An unprecedented failed effort To overturn his loss to Biden It culminated in the January 6th attack on the Capitol. By his supporters.
Thursday’s broadcast on CNN will be the earliest general election debate in history and the first televised general election presidential debate hosted by a single news organization after both sides have won. Eliminated the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates.They have hosted every match since 1988.
The network rules are: Independent Candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. I wasn’t qualified.
To avoid a repeat of the chaotic 2020 showdown, Biden has insisted, and Trump has agreed, that the debate be held without an audience and that networks be allowed to mute the candidates’ microphones when it’s not their turn to speak. There will be two commercial breaks, also a departure from modern practice. The candidates have agreed not to consult with staff or others while the cameras are off.
Associated Press Washington correspondent Sagar Meghani reports that there are high stakes in tonight’s presidential debate between Biden and Trump.
The timing comes as both candidates move forward with their election dates in response to a national trend toward early voting. It remains to be seen whether the accelerated dates will lessen the impact of the missteps or cement them in the public’s memory.
“You have two people who haven’t debated in four years,” said Philip Reines, a Democratic political consultant who helped former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton prepare for a debate with Trump in 2016.
He said Biden and Trump “dislike each other, have never met each other and are pretty nervous going into the biggest night of their lives. That pretty much sums up what’s at stake on Thursday.”
Both sides recognize the stakes
The debate will take place in a few days. 2nd Anniversary The Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, ending federally guaranteed abortion rights and propelling reproductive rights to the forefront of politics ever since.
The showdown came shortly after President Biden left the White House. Administrative measures restricting asylum applications Trump has decided to strengthen measures against illegal immigration at the US-Mexico border in order to reduce the number of immigrants entering the US. Trump has made illegal immigration a central feature of his election campaign.
The wars in Ukraine and Gaza are casting a shadow over the race, as are sharp differences between the candidates’ views on America’s role in the world and its allies. Differences over inflation, taxes, and government investment in infrastructure and climate change are likely to provide further contrast.
In addition, the political background is that the Supreme Court On the verge of announcing the decision and whether Trump should be granted legal immunity for his role in the Jan. 6 riot, which comes just weeks after he was convicted in New York for his role in a hush-money scheme that prosecutors say was intended to illegally influence the 2016 election.
Biden spent the week leading up to the debate holed up at Camp David with senior White House and campaign aides, longtime advisers and allies, with a mock stage built on the grounds to mimic the studio where the debate will take place, and Biden’s personal lawyer, Bob Bauer, reprising the role of Trump.
Aides said the speech reflected Biden’s understanding that he can’t get away with a pedestrian speech, and they stressed that the sometimes-stiff speaker will deliver a speech worthy of the occasion.
Trump, meanwhile, has continued his more chaotic debate preparations, including two days of meetings at his Florida mansion, calls to allies and supporters, and test attacks in social media posts and interviews with conservative media. The chaotic style that characterized the former president’s rambling rally speeches could pose challenges in the disciplined, time-constrained format of a debate.
Trump and his aides have spent months documenting what they say is a sign of Biden’s waning stamina, and recently began predicting that Biden would come in stronger on Thursday, hoping to bolster expectations against the incumbent president.
Candidates have Georgia in mind
The debate’s location in Atlanta has symbolic and practical significance for the campaign, but both sides believe what happens there will have far-reaching implications.
Biden, 2020 Wins Georgia’s 16 electoral votes He won by fewer than 12,000 votes out of 5 million cast, and Trump pressured the state’s Republican leadership to overturn the victory, based on false theories of voter fraud. To be recorded “I want to find 11,780 votes,” he said. State fraud charges.
Both sides are holding a series of events in Atlanta ahead of the debate, including competing events at local Black-owned businesses. Trump appeared at a rally at Rocky’s Barbershop in Buckhead on Friday, where he spoke about his run against Biden and questioned whether CNN hosts Jake Tapper and Dana Bash would treat him fairly.
After the debate, both Biden and Trump are scheduled to visit states they believe will have an advantage this fall, including Trump’s trip to Virginia, once a battleground state that has gone Democratic in recent years.
Biden is due to fly to North Carolina, where he will hold the biggest rally of his campaign history in a state that Trump narrowly won in 2020.
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Miller, Superville and Weisert reported from Washington, and Price from New York. AP video reporter Nathan Elgren in Washington contributed to this report.
