ATLANTA: Democratic President Joe Biden and his Republican predecessor Donald Trump square off on Thursday at an unusually early debate that will offer voters a side-by-side look at the two oldest candidates ever to seek the country’s highest office.

The 90-minute televised debate, the first between a sitting president and a former one, will air at 9pm ET (0100 GMT on Friday) on CNN and is expected to draw a huge audience. A record 84 million watched Trump’s first debate in 2016 against Hillary Clinton.

Both men enter the debate in Atlanta with political vulnerabilities that present a mix of risk and opportunity. The debate takes place far earlier than normal — more than four months before the Nov 5 Election Day — and against a backdrop of national opinion polls showing the two men in a dead heat.

The clash also arrives at a moment of profound polarisation and deep-seated anxiety among voters about the state of American politics. Two-thirds of voters said in a May Reuters/Ipsos poll that they were concerned violence could follow the election, nearly four years after a mob of Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol.

National opinion polls show the two men in a dead heat

Trump, 78, will take the stage as a felon who still faces a trio of criminal cases, including charges related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. The former president, who has suggested he will punish his political enemies if elected, will need to demonstrate to undecided voters that he does not pose a mortal threat to democracy, as Biden asserts.

Biden, 81, is under intense pressure to avoid verbal stumbles and deliver a forceful debate performance, after months of Republican assertions his faculties have dulled with age. Ahead of the debate, each campaign was to launch a new ad campaign attacking its rival.

The Biden campaign said it would launch a new ad blitz in the Atlanta area focused on what a second Trump presidency could look like, including threats to reproductive freedom, a ban on abortion, cuts to Social Security and undermining democracy.

The Trump campaign said it would release two new television ads during the debate, one targeting the economy, illegal immigration and crime and the other focused on Biden’s physical stumbles and saying he “won’t make it four more years in the White House.”

High stakes

When they take the stage, either Biden nor Trump will have much room for error, with the opposing campaign likely to seize on any slip-up as evidence of cognitive decline.

Aaron Kall, a University of Michigan professor and an expert on presidential debates, said this “might be the most highly anticipated and important” one ever, given the closeness of the race, the country’s deep political polarisation and the potential for a lasting gaffe.

For Biden in particular, he said, a moment of confusion or forgetfulness would prompt “endless news cycles” about his age and refuel speculation about a possible replacement ahead of the Democratic National Convention in August.

Published in Dawn, June 28th, 2024