The 2024 presidential election took a sharp turn Wednesday with both major candidates quickly agreeing to two televised debates. The first debate will take place next month.
President Biden and former President Trump will participate in a CNN debate on June 27 in Atlanta. The two will collide again on September 10th at an ABC News event at a location yet to be determined.
The deal was struck with unusual speed after Biden posted a video on social media Wednesday morning urging Trump to “enjoy your day” in response to the debate. “I hear you’re free on Wednesday,” Biden added, referring to the former president’s criminal trial schedule in New York.
Trump agreed almost immediately. President Trump also took to social media to call Biden “the worst debater I’ve ever faced” and claimed that “you can’t put two sentences together.”
Beyond the macho heckling, there’s a real reason for each man to get excited about the argument, and it’s sooner or later. But there are also legitimate risks.
Biden’s willingness to debate as early as next month confirms his desire to change the current trajectory of the campaign.
Nationally, the election appears to be very close, but polls in most battleground states paint an even bleaker picture for the president. A series of polls released Monday by The New York Times and Siena College showed Mr. Trump leading Mr. Biden among registered voters in five of the six battleground states.
Biden’s approval rating is a mediocre 40.4%, according to the average maintained by The Hill and Decision Desk Headquarters (DDHQ), further deepening the Democratic Party’s depression.
But Democrats believe voters will turn against Trump if he fully returns to the spotlight. They think his disrespectful antics will remind voters of the chaos he almost always causes in his wake. And they feel that public interest in this issue will sharpen over time, to Biden’s benefit.
Early discussions can help accelerate all of these goals.
Dick Harpootlian, a Democratic state senator from South Carolina and a member of the Biden campaign’s national finance committee, said that at this point, there are enough speeches and ads from the president touting the stronger elements of his record. He acknowledged that it may not have resonated with the public.
But Harpootlian said, “Trump is completely unfit to be re-elected. He can talk about politics and everything, but what about him as a human being? Put him next to Joe Biden. please.”
Harpootlian also argued that the debate will help Biden by reminding voters that elections are a choice, not an abstract debate about whether they think the president’s record is perfect. .
“In the end, what everyone is going to see is a binary choice,” Harpootlian said. “Here are the two of us. Here’s the plus for Joe Biden. Here’s the minus for Donald Trump.”
Unsurprisingly, Trump supporters don’t see it that way at all.
Most of them believe the early debates represent a huge opportunity for Trump, especially if Biden stumbles over his words in a way that highlights concerns about his age.
Trump is 77 years old, only four years younger than Biden, but most polls show fewer voters are concerned about Trump’s cognitive abilities.
Trump’s allies enthusiastically welcomed news of the debate for this very reason. Kari Lake, a Trump supporter seeking a Senate seat in Arizona, linked to the news that President Trump responded to the debate with enthusiasm, saying, “Let’s go!!!” Post on social media.
In subsequent posts, Lake criticized Biden, calling him “clumsy” and “mentally debilitated.”
The date of the first debate may also be of President Trump’s preference.
His criminal trial is expected to conclude long before that, and the debate is a clear chance for Trump to turn the page or, if found guilty, rule it unfair.
The Biden-Trump debate has another common advantage. It’s likely that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will be absent.
CNN’s debate rules exclude candidates who don’t register at least 15 percent support in four national polls the network considers reliable.
President Kennedy is unlikely to meet that standard. His support appears to have waned since the early days of the campaign. The Hill/DDHQ average gives him an approval rating of just under 7 percent.
Kennedy complained on social media that Biden and Trump were “trying to remove me from the debate because they’re afraid I’ll win.”
To be sure, there are some potential downsides to major party candidates.
Even a pro-Biden figure like Harpootlian said that beyond the risk of Biden “stumbling,” being “too cynical, too condescending” could come across as unpresidential. Therefore, the president points out that he needs to be careful when adjusting his attitude toward Trump.
For President Trump, this debate is sure to bring back questions about his role in the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot. He will also be questioned about three other criminal cases he is facing. And there will undoubtedly be questions about whether to accept the results of this year’s election.
The first debate will also be held behind closed doors, which is likely to bother Trump more than Biden, given his ability to prey on crowds.
President Trump’s ridicule of Biden could also backfire if the president only clears a low bar of expectations.
Doug Hay, former communications director for the Republican National Committee, argued that Trump and Biden “have a lot to lose,” especially since “neither of them has done anything like this in a long time.” insisted.
Trump boycotted this term’s Republican primary debates, insisting the clashes were essentially unrelated and that he was far ahead. Biden faced only superficial opposition on his way to winning the Democratic nomination, but he was also unwilling to debate his rivals.
The long absence of each athlete from the debate stage will only heighten the public’s interest in the most important moment of the 2024 race to date.
The Memo is a reported column by Niall Stanage.
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