2020 United States presidential debates

2020 United States presidential debates

The 2020 United States presidential debates between the major candidates in the 2020 United States presidential election are being sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD). The first debate took place on September 29, 2020 with a further two scheduled to take place on October 15 and October 22. One debate between the vice presidential candidates is scheduled to take place on October 7, 2020.

Debates sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates

On October 11, 2019, the Commission on Presidential Debates announced that it would host four debates. Three of the four presidential debates will be between incumbent president Donald Trump, Democratic nominee and former Vice President Joe Biden, and any other participants that qualify. One debate will be a vice presidential debate between incumbent vice president Mike Pence, Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris, and any third party candidates that meet the criteria.

In late 2019, Trump claimed that the 2016 debates were "biased." After meeting with his campaign manager, the commission co-chairman said that "the president wanted to debate, but they had concerns about whether or not to do it with the commission." Trump did not press the issue further publicly. Trump also requested additional debates to the traditional three, which Biden's campaign declined. At the end of June, representatives of the Biden campaign confirmed that they had agreed to the original schedule.

In August, the CPD rejected a request by the Trump campaign to shift the debates to an earlier date, or to add a fourth debate.

On August 27, Democrat Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives, suggested that Biden should skip the debates, claiming that Trump will "probably act in a way that is beneath the dignity of the presidency". Biden responded by saying that he wants to go ahead and participate so that he can "be a fact-checker on the floor while I'm debating [Trump]".

Qualification of candidates

In order to qualify for the debates sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates, presidential candidates must meet the following criteria; vice-presidential candidates qualify by being the running mate of a qualifying presidential candidate:

• Be constitutionally eligible to hold the presidency.
  • Be at least 35 years old as of taking office.
  • Be a natural-born citizen of the United States and have been a resident of the United States for fourteen years as of taking office.
  • Be otherwise eligible under the Constitution.
    • Article I, Section 3, Clause 7, gives the U.S. Senate the option of forever disqualifying anyone convicted in an impeachment case from holding any federal office.
    • Section 3 of the 14th Amendment prohibits anyone who swore an oath to support the Constitution, and later rebelled against the United States, from becoming president. However, this disqualification can be lifted by a two-thirds vote of each house of Congress.
    • The 22nd Amendment prohibits anyone from being elected to the presidency more than twice (or once if the person serves as president or acting president for more than two years of a presidential term to which someone else was originally elected).
• Appear on a sufficient number of ballots to have a mathematical possibility of winning a majority vote in the Electoral College.
  • In theory, this means a candidate could win the election despite not meeting this criterion and hence not qualifying for the debates, as a candidate can win the election despite having a minority vote in the Electoral College. In practice, this has only happened once.
• Have a level of support of at least 15% of the national electorate as determined by five national public opinion polling organizations selected by the commission, using the average of those organizations' most recently reported results at the time of determination. The five polls were chosen with the advice of Frank Newport of Gallup, based on how Frank and the Commission perceived these criteria:
  • The reliable frequency of polling and sample size used by the polling organization.
  • The soundness of the survey methodology employed by the polling organization.
  • The longevity and reputation of the polling organization.
  • The five polls are:
    • ABC/Washington Post Poll
    • CNN Poll
    • Fox News Poll
    • NBC/Wall Street Journal Poll
    • NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist Poll

Debate list

Three presidential debates and one vice presidential debate have been scheduled:

2020 United States presidential election debates
No.	Date & Time	Host	Location	Moderator	Participants
Key:  P  Participant.     N  Non-invitee.					Republican	Democratic
					President Donald Trump of Florida	Former Vice President Joe Biden of Delaware
1	Tuesday, September 29, 2020 9:00–10:30 pm EDT	Case Western Reserve University	Cleveland, Ohio	Chris Wallace	P	P
2	Thursday, October 15, 2020 9:00–10:30 pm EDT	Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts	Miami, Florida	Steve Scully	P	P
3	Thursday, October 22, 2020 8:00–9:30 pm CDT	Belmont University	Nashville, Tennessee	Kristen Welker	P	P
2020 United States vice presidential debate
No.	Date & Time	Host	Location	Moderator	Participants
Key:  P  Participant.     N  Non-invitee.					Republican	Democratic
					Vice President Mike Pence of Indiana	Senator Kamala Harris of California
VP	Wednesday, October 7, 2020 7:00–8:30 pm MDT	University of Utah	Salt Lake City, Utah	Susan Page	P	P

First presidential debate (Case Western Reserve University)

The first debate was held on Tuesday, September 29, 2020, from 9:00 to 10:30 pm Eastern time at the Samson Pavilion of the Health Education Campus (HEC), which is shared by Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland. Chris Wallace of Fox News moderated the debate.

The debate was originally scheduled to take place in the Phillip J. Purcell Pavilion located within the Edmund P. Joyce Center at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, but Notre Dame withdrew as a host site on July 27, 2020, due to concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic.

President
Donald Trump
Florida

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Former Vice president Joe Biden
Delaware

Format and debate

The debate was divided into six segments: "Trump's and Biden’s records, the Supreme Court, the coronavirus pandemic, race and violence in cities, election integrity, and the economy". Each was approximately 15 minutes in length; Wallace introduced each topic and gave each candidate two minutes to speak, followed by facilitated discussion between them. The allotted time was generally not upheld; Trump repeatedly interrupted Biden during Biden's answers to the initial questions, and was chastised by Wallace several times. At one point, an exasperated Biden remarked, "Will you shut up, man?"

During the debate, Trump refused to categorically condemn white supremacist and militia groups, in particular the Proud Boys, and falsely asserted that extremist violence is "not a right-wing problem". Trump also responded with "Proud Boys, stand back and stand by"—a remark that some members of that far-right group, as well as others, interpreted as a call to arms. Trump's remarks received criticism.

Reception

According to a CBS News poll taken following the debate, 48% of people thought Biden won, 41% of people thought Trump won, while 10% considered it a tie. In the same poll, 83% of the respondents believed the tone of the debate was negative, while 17% believed it was positive. CNN's Chris Cillizza said it was "the single worst debate I have ever covered in my two decades of doing this job". Various outlets, especially Dana Bash on CNN, referred to the debate as a "shitshow".

A post-debate CNN/SSRS poll found that 60% of debate-viewers thought that Biden had won and 28% thought Trump had.

Vice presidential debate (University of Utah)

The vice presidential debate is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, October 7, 2020 at 7:00–8:30 pm local time at Kingsbury Hall at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Susan Page of USA Today will moderate the vice presidential debate.

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Vice president
Mike Pence
Indiana

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Senator Kamala Harris
California

Second presidential debate (Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts)

The second debate is scheduled to take place on Thursday, October 15, 2020 9:00–10:30 pm local time, at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami.

This debate had originally been scheduled to be held at the Crisler Center at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, but the University of Michigan withdrew as a host on June 23, 2020, over public health concerns stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. Steve Scully of C-SPAN will moderate the debate. This debate will be in the town hall meeting format.

Third presidential debate (Belmont University)

The third and final debate is scheduled to take place on Thursday, October 22, 2020 8:00–9:30 pm local time, at the Curb Event Center at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. Kristen Welker of NBC will moderate the final debate.

Debates sponsored by the Free & Equal Elections Foundation

First open debate (Hilton Chicago)

Early on March 4, 2020, the Free & Equal Elections Foundation held a debate at the Hilton Chicago Hotel, which included various third party candidates, as well as minor candidates affiliated with the Democratic and Republican parties.

2020 Free & Equal debates
No.	Date & Time	Location	Moderators	Invited participants
P  Participant.				Democratic	Libertarian			Green	Constitution	American Solidarity	Life and Liberty	Transhumanist
				Businessman Mark Stewart of Connecticut	Activist Dan Berhman of Texas	Activist Erik Gerhardt of Pennsylvania	LNC Vice Chair Arvin Vohra of Maryland	Activist Sedinam Moyowasifza-Curry of California	Financial Advisor Charles Kraut of Virginia	Educator Brian Carroll of California	Activist J.R. Myers of Alaska	Activist Ben Zion of Arizona
1a	March 4, 2020 2:00 pm CST	Chicago, Illinois	Christina Tobin	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P
P  Participant.				Democratic	Republican	Libertarian				Green / Socialist	PSL	Independent
				Attorney Mosie Boyd of Arkansas	Futurist Zoltan Istvan of California	Lieutenant Ken Armstrong of Hawaii	Lecturer Jo Jorgensen of South Carolina	Corporal Adam Kokesh of Indiana	Activist Vermin Supreme of Massachusetts	Tradesman Howie Hawkins of New York	Activist Gloria La Riva of California	Activist Mark Charles of the District of Columbia
1b	March 4, 2020 6:30 pm CST	Chicago, Illinois	Christina Tobin	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P

Second open debate

For the general election, the Free & Equal Elections Foundation is scheduled to host a debate on October 8, 2020 in Denver, Colorado, with participation limited to candidates on the ballot in at least eight states.

2020 Free & Equal debates
No.	Date & Time	Location	Moderators	Invited participants
P  Confirmed participant.     I  Invitee.				Democratic	Republican	Libertarian	Green / Socialist	PSL	Alliance / Reform	Constitution	American Solidarity	Independent
				Former Vice President Joe Biden of Delaware	President Donald Trump of Florida	Lecturer Jo Jorgensen of South Carolina	Tradesman Howie Hawkins of New York	Activist Gloria La Riva of California	Businessman Rocky De La Fuente of California	Businessman Don Blankenship of West Virginia	Educator Brian Carroll of California	Entrepreneur Brock Pierce of Puerto Rico	Producer Kanye West of Illinois
1	October 8, 2020 6:00 pm MDT	Denver, Colorado	TBA	I	I	I	P	P	I	I	P	P	I

External links

• The Commission on Presidential Debates