By Jim Ellis
Sept. 1, 2020 — The Presidential Debate series looms on the political horizon, and controversy is beginning to swirl even though the first forum is still a month away.
The first in a series of currently three presidential debates is set for Sept. 29.
At the end of July, former Bill Clinton news secretary Joe Lockhart wrote for CNN.com that Biden shouldn’t debate the president. “Whatever you do, don’t debate Trump. Trump has now made more than 20,000 misleading or false statements according to the Washington Post,” Lockhart penned as public advice to Biden.
Some on the Republican side argue that these Democratic leaders are beginning to lay the groundwork for Biden to avoid the debates because of concerns their candidate would fare poorly opposite President Trump.
For his part, Biden says he will debate the president, and become his own “fact checker on the floor.” He will also begin holding campaign events after Labor Day. In an Aug. 28 interview with the Associated Press, Biden said he’ll “meet people where it matters – not at irresponsible rallies or staged for TV to boost egos, but real people’s communities, in real local businesses, in their lives.” Biden further said he’ll “hold events consistent with the state rules about crowd sizes and other regulations.”
The first debate is scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 29, the second on Thursday, Oct. 15, and the final forum culminates a week later on Oct. 22. The vice presidential debate between incumbent Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 7.
The debates have proven important in the past and always draw large audiences. According to the Pew Research Center, even the first televised debate, between then-Sen. John F. Kennedy and then-Vice President Richard Nixon, drew over 66 million viewers usually on black and white televisions, at a time when the US population was just under 181 million people, or approximately 55 percent of today’s total populace.
The 1960 figure meant that at least 36 percent of the American people watched the Kennedy-Nixon first debate, which is equivalent to more than 118 million today.
The highest raw number viewership, again according to the Pew Research Center, was the Hillary Clinton-Donald Trump first debate in 2016. Closely behind was the 1980 lone President Jimmy Carter-Ronald Reagan debate that drew 80.6 million viewers. With the smaller population 40 years ago, this latter number represented 36 percent of the stated population, akin to what the Kennedy-Nixon debate drew. Even though the Clinton-Trump forum had a higher aggregate viewership, their 84 million viewers represented 26 percent of the total American population.
The vice-presidential debates typically fall well behind the presidential forums in viewership. The only exception was in 2008, when the Joe Biden-Sarah Palin debate actually outdrew all of the Obama-McCain presidential appearances. The Biden-Palin single-night event recorded just under 70 million people, while the top figure for any Barack Obama-John McCain forum was 63.2 million people. The lowest viewed presidential debate came in 1996 when only 36.3 million watched the final Bill Clinton-Bob Dole joint appearance.
According to the Pew Research post-election polling series for presidential elections beginning in 1988, the overwhelming number of respondents from their sampling universes said they believe the debates are either somewhat or very helpful in assisting with vote determination. In 2016, 63 percent of poll participants said that the debates were very or somewhat helpful to them, versus 36 percent who felt the debate series was “not too helpful” or “not at all helpful.” Those types of ratios have been consistent since 2008.
Significant numbers of previously uncommitted viewers also say they decide how to vote after viewing the debate series. The high number came in 2000, when 17 percent of undecided voters said they made up their minds once the debates concluded. In the last two presidential elections (2012; 2016), 10 percent of the undecideds made similar replies.
There is no question that the presidential debates have a serious impact on the individual campaigns. It remains to be seen just how they might alter this year’s outcome.
