CNN
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The historic rematch between Joe Biden and Donald Trump won't just be a replay: next week's first presidential debate is set to reveal a very different set of issues driving their bitter battle for the White House.
It feels as if their entire lives have been turned upside down since the two last appeared side by side on a debate stage. The fall of 2020 was the center of the raging coronavirus pandemic and President Trump's chaotic administration. Now, Biden's record is under similar scrutiny, even as he continues to present himself as the safer choice.
The sequel race between Biden and Trump has sparked a whole new set of battles on the campaign trail and in TV ads, offering a glimpse into at least some of the arguments that may play out when the two go head-to-head in a CNN debate in Atlanta on Thursday.
This week, Trump delivered a stern warning to Wisconsin voters about an unstable world and what he sees as an unstable Biden administration, saying, “Under this man, we're going to be in World War III. He's the worst president we've ever had.”
Biden's new ad doesn't mince words when it comes to Trump's May conviction on 34 felony counts: “This election is between a convicted felon fighting only for himself and a president fighting for your families,” a narrator declares in the spot, which is part of a $50 million ad campaign.
The competing messages not only clarify the logic of the two candidates' arguments, but also underscore how much the country, the world and the candidates themselves have changed in the past four years.
From violent riots and the lingering aftermath over the integrity of the election, to new battles over abortion rights after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, to the war between Russia and Ukraine and boiling turmoil in the Middle East, to tough questions about America's role in the world, the 2024 election campaigns are about very different issues, even though the same candidates' names are on the ballot.
Of all these individual issues and more, the economy and immigration consistently rank high on voters’ main concerns. And inflation, an issue that has complicated Biden’s economic argument, is sure to be at the center of it all.
Against this backdrop, Republicans and Democrats have both been asking voters in the lead-up to the first debate: “Are Americans happier now than they were four years ago?” The question has become a partisan Rorschach test, with each side hoping to deliver a winning argument for their candidate on Thursday.
Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., said Thursday that with tensions in the Middle East “escalating,” President Trump can claim he left office with stronger global security.
“What this debate will reveal is what the world was like under Trump,” Waltz told CNN, “and what it's like now in this mess under Joe Biden.”
Democrats have countered by reminding voters of the chaos that enveloped Trump's White House, particularly in the final years of his presidency. The Biden campaign's new campaign ad, airing in English and Spanish during the Copa America soccer tournament, begins with footage of empty stadiums and closed stores.
“Four years ago, we were shut down. The stadiums were empty. Trump let us down,” the narrator says. “But then Joe Biden took over.”
The winner, whether Trump, 78, or Biden, 81, will be the oldest president to be sworn in on Inauguration Day, making age and fitness for the presidency one of the defining issues of the race.
An ABC News/Ipsos poll in April found that more than half of American adults say both men are too old to serve another term, 10 points higher than a year ago, though surveys have consistently shown growing concerns about Biden's ability.
Trump and his allies have spent months portraying Biden as an indolent and indecisive administrator but have moved in recent days to reset expectations ahead of next week's showdown.
After suggesting Biden was “high-spirited” for the debate, Trump insinuated, without any evidence, that the president was using cocaine. (Trump cited a baggie of cocaine found in the White House last year but mistakenly said it was found last month. The Secret Service investigated the matter but was unable to identify a suspect.)
And during an interview on the “All In” podcast that aired Thursday, Trump said Biden is a “worthy debater” and that he doesn't want to underestimate him.
The shift in approach comes amid concern from some Trump advisers that Republicans have set the bar for Biden's performance too low, as they did in this year's State of the Union address.
“Trump will want to position himself as the leader, the candidate who is more dynamic, more energetic, more in charge,” said Brian Bartlett, a Republican strategist who worked on Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign. “Someone who is healthy and vibrant. You have to see if that matches up with reality. If Trump is making that case and Biden is in good shape, it's not going to work.”
Biden and his surrogates have been attacking head-on what they see as their candidate's weaknesses.
“Joe and that guy are essentially the same age,” First Lady Jill Biden told an audience last week in Green Bay, Wis. “Don't be fooled, but this election is about the character of the person who leads our country.”
Public opinion can be tough for incumbents. Biden's favorability rating has fallen 11 points over four years, with nearly six in 10 Americans now viewing him unfavorably, according to CNN polls from September 2020 and April 2024. Meanwhile, perceptions of Trump have not changed much, with more than half of respondents still viewing him unfavorably.
Television debates have the potential to be history-making moments and are a storied part of modern presidential campaigns.
But the showdown is unprecedented, with the 45th and 46th presidents seeking to define their rivalry in the earliest general election debate in memory.
“The challenge for President Trump is to get out of the way and force Biden to live up to what he's done over the last four years,” said Brett O'Donnell, a Republican strategist who has spent years preparing candidates for debates, including Trump's rivals.
“The challenge for Biden is to actually get on Trump's nerves, to interrupt him and remind him of some of the qualities that people don't like very much,” O'Donnell told CNN.
CNN's Betsy Klein and Kate Sullivan contributed to this report.
