President Joe Biden speaks at the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies’ 30th annual gala, Tuesday, May 14, 2024, in Washington. and the second on Sept. 10 hosted by ABC — setting the stage for their first presidential face-off to play out in just over a month.sponsored by the nonpartisan commission that has organized them for more than three decades.
The presidential debates, always a critical moment on the political calendar, could be particularly important in a year when voters are underwhelmed with their choices and have expressed concerns about the candidates’ advanced ages — Biden is 81 and Trump 77. CNN said that its debate would be held at 9 p.m. ET in its Atlanta studios with no audience present in a break from recent precedent. Moderators will be anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, CNN said. ABC did not offer details on where its event would be held. Disagreements about moderators and rules were some of the questions that prompted the formation of the Commission on Presidential Debates in 1987.
The debates will be the first televised general election match-ups to be hosted by individual networks. The 1960 debates, which helped show the power of the medium to influence public opinion, were hosted jointly by the leading networks of the day. Before the commission was formed in 1987, the presidential debates of 1976, 1980 and 1984 were organized by the League of Women Voters.
“No more games. No more chaos, no more debate about debates. We’ll see Donald Trump on June 27th in Atlanta – if he shows up,” she wrote. There also was little love lost for the commission from Trump, who objected to technical issues at his first debate with Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016 and was upset when a 2020 debate with Biden was canceled after the Republican came down with COVID-19. The Republican National Committee had already promised not to work with the commission on the 2024 contests.