Biden and Trump agree on election debate dates
Joe Biden and Donald Trump have agreed to meet face-to-face in televised debates on June 27 and Sept. 10, dramatically raising their stakes in the election race.
“As you said: anywhere, anytime, anywhere,” Biden said on social media.
Trump called Biden “the worst debater” he has ever encountered.
“I am ready and willing to debate corrupt Joe on both dates suggested: June and September,” Trump wrote on social media.
The first debate will be held in Atlanta “without an audience in the studio” and will be moderated by Jake Tapper and Dana Bash. Notably, the rivalry between the candidates for the state of Georgia has been ongoing since November.
The presidential candidates have also accepted an invitation from ABC, which will air a second debate on Sept. 10. There have been offers to hold vice presidential debates – separately in July, after the Republican Party’s national convention.
Among the key disagreements between the two sides, however, remain the terms of the debate organization. Biden has said he would participate in those debates with strict rules to reduce the number of interruptions. At the same time, Trump has called for more than two debates and choosing as large a venue as possible in order to “increase their appeal.”
The debates, which will draw a live TV audience of tens of millions of U.S. viewers, are fraught with risks for both candidates entering a tight race with low voter attention.
Biden’s aides believe the debate could hurt Trump by exposing his stance on many sensitive issues, including abortion, which would expose his rival’s political vulnerability.
Trump aides believe that because Biden is prone to reservations, it could heighten voters’ concerns about the age of the president, who is already 81.
By the time of the first debate, Trump will be 78.
“Both candidates, because of their age, will be under the keen eye of the audience,” emphasized Alan Schroeder, a professor emeritus at Northeastern University who wrote the book “Presidential Debates: the Risky Steps of Campaigning.”
He called the debate “one of the few times when the candidates are not in complete control of the situation.”
The first debate will take place after the June 15 conclusion of the G7 summit in Italy and Trump’s criminal trial in New York.