President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are set to face off in the first presidential debate of the 2024 election this Thursday.
The June 27 debate will take place at 9 pm Eastern on CNN and will be moderated by anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash. It will be the earliest televised presidential debate in US history, with the next one being hosted by ABC on September 10, when both candidates will return to the debate stage.
With the presidential debates coming up, TIME has been answering your questions about them, including when they start and who is eligible to participate.
When was the first presidential debate?
While many consider the first televised debate to have been the 1960 debate between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon, historians contend that the first televised presidential debate actually took place four years earlier, although it featured surrogates for the candidates.
Democratic candidate and former Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson and Republican President Dwight Eisenhower did not appear in the debate on November 4, 1956. Instead, former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt represented the Democrats and Maine Senator Margaret Chase Smith represented the Republicans.
The debate was broadcast on CBS. Confronting the state (According to the U.S. Senate website, it was the first time a woman had appeared on the show.) The debate took place just two days before the election, and the main topic of the debate was foreign policy.
read more: CNN Presidential Debate Rules
Who will host the presidential debates?
In 1987, the Commission on Presidential Debates was formed as a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan corporation “to plan, manage, produce, promote, and support debates between candidates for president of the United States.”
The Commission does not endorse or oppose political candidates or parties, and has sponsored presidential debates in every election since 1988. Prior to that, the League of Women Voters hosted the presidential debates in 1976, 1980, and 1984.
But this year, CNN and ABC will host an in-person debate after Biden said he would not take part in a presidential debate organized by the committee, according to the Associated Press. Biden's campaign chairman wrote to the committee last month objecting to the proposed date for the debate in the fall, which would take place after some Americans have begun voting in the election, and expressed dissatisfaction with the committee's decision to hold the debate in front of an audience. The Republican National Committee had previously said it would not work with the committee.
Are presidential debates required by law?
The Commission on Presidential Debates' main goal is to ensure that general election debates between the leading presidential and vice presidential candidates are held every four years, but debates are not required. After the 1960 Kennedy-Nixon debate, there were no debates in 1964, 1968, or 1972, according to the Commission.
How many presidential debates were there in 2020?
In the first presidential race between Biden and Trump, both candidates participated in two debates in 2020. The first debate between the two took place on September 29, 2020, and was a hostile atmosphere with Trump and Biden repeatedly interrupting each other and attacking each other's characters. Initially, Trump and Biden were scheduled to participate in the second debate on October 15, 2020, but the debate was canceled after Trump was diagnosed with COVID-19 and declined to participate in the online debate. The two candidates held their second debate on October 22, 2020, which was supposed to be their third debate.
What does it take to qualify for a presidential debate?
To compete in the first presidential debate of this election cycle, candidates must meet the following requirements as announced by CNN:
- Constitutionally eligible to hold the office of President
- File a formal candidacy letter with the Federal Election Commission
- His name appears on enough state ballots to reach the 270 electoral vote threshold needed to win the presidency
- Agree to accept the rules and format of the debate
- Receive at least 15% support in four national polls of registered or likely voters that meet CNN's reporting standards and are sponsored by CNN, ABC News, CBS News, Fox News, etc.
How many Americans will watch the presidential debates?
US presidential debates are among the most-watched television events in the country after the Super Bowl: More than 73 million people tuned in to watch at least part of the first debate between Trump and Biden in 2020, making it the third-most-watched debate of all time, according to Nielsen Media Research.
According to Nielsen Media Research, the most-watched event was the first debate between Hillary Clinton and Trump in 2016, which drew 84 million viewers. The second most-watched debate was the 1980 debate between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, which drew 80.6 million viewers.
According to data from Nielsen Media Research, ratings for presidential debates have fluctuated from year to year. The four debates in 1960 all had ratings of around 60.0, meaning that roughly 60% of households with televisions watched the debates. But ratings dropped in 1976, when the debates continued, and continued to decline for several decades after. However, since the third debate between Al Gore and George W. Bush in 2000, ratings for debates have generally been on the rise, with the first Trump-Biden debate in 2020 having a rating of 40.2.
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