Yahoo News When is the next US presidential election debate? How to watch Trump v Biden
President Joe Biden and Republican former President Donald Trump will face off again on September 10 in the second televised debate of the election year.
Mr Biden’s stumbling performance at the first debate on June 27 was a disaster for his campaign and caused panic among Democrats.
In the aftermath, the president’s advisers defied calls for the him to drop out of the race and said he would debate Mr Trump again in September as planned.
In the second of the two agreed-upon debates, the candidates will go head-to-head in a moderated discussion on national television.
When is the next Biden v Trump debate?
ABC News will host the next debate, which gets started on Tuesday September 10 at 9 pm ET (1am GMT). It follows the first debate, hosted by CNN at their studios in Atlanta on June 27.
The first debate came unusually early in the year, before either candidate was officially named as the nominee of his respective party.
It aired two weeks before Trump’s sentencing for his New York conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records.
It also came at the end of the Supreme Court’s term, which includes a ruling on whether Trump is immune from federal prosecution for his role in the Capitol insurrection of January 6 2021.
Where to watch the second debate
The event will air live on ABC and will be streamed to the 24/7 network ABC News Live, the ABC app and the ABC website.
It will also be made possible to watch the debate on Hulu and via connected devices through Roku, AppleTV and Amazon Fire TV.
ABC News have announced viewers will also be able to simulcast the debate via additional broadcast and streaming news networks in America.
Where is the Biden v Trump debate being held?
ABC have not yet announced the location of the second debate, but it is expected to take place in a studio.
The broadcaster confirmed that two of its primetime hosts, Linsey Davis and David Muir, will serve as moderators for the second debate. Ms Davis currently anchors “ABC News Live Prime” and Mr Muir is the host of “World News Tonight”.
The first debate was held at CNN’s studios in Atlanta, the capital of Georgia and a crucial swing state for the election.
There was no live audience at this debate, which was moderated by CNN’s chief political correspondent Dana Bash and lead Washington anchor Jake Tapper.
The lack of audience was a break with tradition that was specifically requested by Mr Biden’s team.
Mr Trump said that the president was “supposedly afraid of crowds” and said he would prefer a live audience as “it’s just more exciting”.
The candidates’ microphones were deactivated while the other spoke, which was another request from the Biden team. This followed the first 2020 forum where the conversation was dogged by the candidates’ interruptions and cutting-across.
Who will be attending?
So far, the only confirmed attendees are Donald Trump and President Joe Biden.
Independent candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr has accused the two major candidates of excluding him “because they are afraid I would win”.
The rules require participants to appear on enough state ballots to gain the minimum 270 electoral votes required to win a US presidential election, and to gain a minimum of 15% support in four separate recognised polls.
On May 11, CNN reported that Kennedy polled at 16% in a CNN/SSRS poll. Kennedy is currently on the ballot in six states and has enough signatures to qualify for the ballot in eight more, but this still only brings him to 185 electoral votes.
What issues will the candidates be quizzed on?
It is likely that the economy, wars in Eastern Europe and the Middle East will see significant airtime, alongside the respective records in office of the two men.
Trump is likely to zero-in on the message that Biden’s age makes him weak and unfit for office and that an influx of illegal immigrants has crossed the US border under his watch. The former President may also be tempted to make a few jibes about Mr Biden’s recently convicted son, Hunter.
Biden’s campaign team will likely focus on what they term “Trump’s dangerous campaign promises and unhinged rhetoric”. The President is also expected to hammer Trump over the overturning of Roe v Wade.
Analysis: Why the debates could be pivotal
They are always key moments in the political calendar, but this year’s presidential debates could be critical in an election between two men who are almost neck and neck in the polls.
Both Mr Biden and Trump will saw their first face-off in four years as an opportunity to get the better of their political rival.
Trump and his team will be buoyant after Mr Biden stumbled through the first debate, making at least one of his trademark gaffes and further exacerbating concerns about the octogenarian’s age and mental acuity.
Worries about the 81-year-old’s age have plagued the Biden campaign since Special Counsel Robert Hur released a damning report earlier this year billing the US president as “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory”.
Joe Biden’s favourite columnists and media outlets turned on him the morning after the first debate, bringing private concerns about his age among Democrats out into the open.
Mr Biden’s public appearances and interviews are often carefully controlled by his team and any shortcomings at the next debate will again be seized upon by the Republican machine.
Meanwhile, Mr Biden’s team believes Trump’s often-incendiary rhetoric, coupled with his New York criminal conviction, will remind the public why they voted him out of the White House.
