Awarding against the curl. How the debate of Biden against Trump passed

On June 27, the first election debate between Joe Bayden and Donald Trump was held on the CNN channel. The former president almost did not answer the merits of the questions, and when he answered, he almost always said a lie (CNN's factor service counted as many as 32 cases when Trump distorted the facts during the debate), but Bayden's performance turned out to be so faded that the majority of Trump preferred the same CNN. Political scientist Yan Veselov believes that the format of television battles for Biden is losing - if you read the performances of the candidates, it seems that Biden defeated Trump with arguments, but if you watch these performances, the showman Trump seems to be an obvious winner.

Unusual debate for unusual candidates

These debates were largely unusual. Firstly, they were first spent so early. Typically, presidential debates take place in early autumn, but this time Biden's campaign called on Trump to organize them in the summer. In his account on the social network X, the president published a video in which Trump had already lost to him twice in 2020 and refused to debate with his competitors in republican primaries. “Please me! Let's choose the date, I heard that you are free on Wednesdays, ”said Biden, hinting at Trump's employment because of the trial in New York, where the former president was found guilty of falsification of business reporting.

Secondly, for the first time in 36 years, the event was held without the mediation of the commission on presidential debate-NPOs, which was engaged in their organization, determining dates and places. The commission by tradition proposed to hold three rounds in September and October, as well as some debate for candidates for vice presidents, but it was criticized by representatives of both parties.

Republicans insisted that in 2020, moderators dried up Biden, and Trump asked more tough questions and limited his speeches. And in 2022, the Republican National Committee forbade their candidates to participate in the debate organized by the commission. The Democrats did not like that instead of a thorough discussion about the problems of the United States, the debate turned into a show, where candidates constantly interrupt each other.

Instead of a thorough discussion about the problems of the United States, the debate turned into a show, where candidates constantly interrupt each other

As a result, CNN agreed with the demands, and the debate passed without a living audience, and the microphones of the candidates automatically turned off after the time allotted for answers. A candidate of a nominee, nephew of former president Robert Kennedy Jr., wanted to participate in the debate. But CNN refused him because of the inconsistency of the requirements: he could not gain 15% in 4 hundreds ofires and register in the States with more than a half of all electors.

Participants were preparing in different ways for the debate. Bidden spent the whole first half of the week in his residence of the Camp David, where his headquarters trained the president intensively: at the rehearsal of Debatov, the role of Trump was played by lawyer Biden Bob Bauer. But Trump refused a full rehearsal, limiting himself to a series of meetings on key issues with his advisers. He believes that his best performances are kept on improvisation, and not in advance answers in advance.

Each of the parties actively filed attention to the debate. Trump supporters first said that the Americans would certainly see the weakness and dementia of the current president. Then the Republican politicians began to speculate that doctors pump Biden with stimulants before the debate. Trump himself demanded that both candidates give a drug test.

Trump demanded that both candidates give a drug test to the debate

However, similar calls on his part sounded to the debate of 2016 and 2020. But soon he measured his rhetoric, calling Bayden a "worthy debater." The Democrats hoped that the low expectations of the audience in relation to Biden would allow their candidate to show himself and debunk rumors about his health problems. From Trump, they expected a chaotic performance and personal attacks, including the son of President Hunter Biden, who was recently found guilty of illegal purchase of firearms.

Slippery Trump and inexpressive.

The ABC News/IPSOS survey , conducted before the debate, was offered to the respondents to evaluate expectations from the performance of both candidates on a five -point scale. Biden on average received 2.58 points, and Trump - 2.96. The respondents are approximately equally ready to vote for Trump and Biden (45% each), although the majority estimates both candidates negatively (57% of Trump and 59% in Biden). Voters consider inflation, immigration, political extremism, abortion and crime most important topics.

All these topics were in one way or another in the form of questions of leading debate. Trump actively attacked Biden, accusing him of increasing prices, illegal migration, a rampant of crime and foreign policy crises: from a hasty withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan before the war in Ukraine. However, many of his comments were quite inconsistent in essence, and the presenters often had to ask questions several times in order to get an answer from him.

Trump refused to answer many questions on the merits and was limited to general phrases

In particular, Trump has repeatedly asked if he was ready to accept the conditions of a truce in Ukraine, nominated by Vladimir Putin. Trump called them unacceptable, but accused Bayden of starting this war, as well as in a waste of billions of dollars to the aid of Ukraine. The politician again promised to resolve the conflict even before he officially takes office. A few days before the debate, Trump's advisers published a plan according to which his administration plans to put Ukraine and Russia at the negotiating table, threatening to reduce or, on the contrary, increase military assistance.

The Trump administration plans to put Ukraine and Russia at the negotiating table, threatening to reduce or, on the contrary, increase military assistance

Refusing to answer many questions on the merits and limited to general phrases, Trump positioned himself as a less ideological candidate. This was especially true for the problems of abortion, climate and social security, in the discussions of which Republicans are traditionally inferior to the democrats. Conversely, the most criticism of Trump beat Biden in his weakest places: migration, economics and foreign policy.

In many matters, Biden tried to blame Trump and said that he left the country in ruins after the coronavirus epidemic and was responsible for the growth of crime and inflation. Biden’s strongest attacks on Trump were related to the topic of defense of democracy, issues of abortion and the moral appearance of the ex-president.

However, the current president was unable to present a full vision of his second term, although positive economic statistics, a decrease in crime and illegal migration speaks in his favor.

Articles on the topic

Both candidates regularly transferred to persons. Biden did this first, calling Trump first “whinthik” at first due to the refusal to recognize the results of the 2020 elections, and then the “vessel and the loser”-according to the media, this is how Trump called the American military who fell in the battle of Bello Wood during the First World War. Trump himself on the debate called a quote fake. Answering the question of his criminal record, Trump christened his opponent with a “criminal” and said that he could wait for a criminal case, after which he transferred the topic to his son Hunter.

Biden called Trump first a “whiner”, and then a “vessel and a loser”

But these debates will clearly be remembered not by content, but by form. It is unlikely that one of the spectators will notice that Trump made more than 30 false statements for the entire performance, and Biden-about 10. If you read the text of the debate, it may seem that the president had overwhelmed the opponent with facts and numbers. But if you look , then there is a completely different impression. Everyone will remember exactly what the candidates looked like.

Biden and Trump are almost peers, they both often confuse or incorrectly pronounce words and cannot finish the thought to the end, but the experienced showman Trump still looked much more energetic. At the beginning of the debate, 81-year-old Biden went on stage with an uncertain gait and spoke in a rather quiet and hoarse voice. His election campaign has already written off this on a cold, but it is only half a bastard. Biden often stipulated and confused the words, and his speech was very confused and slurred. “I do not know what he said at the end of this proposal. I don’t think he knows himself, ”said 78-year-old Trump in response to Biden’s comments.

During the debate, Biden often stipulated and confused words, and his speech was very confused and slurred

The president often “hung” with a lost look and an open mouth. In general, he clearly did not look like a healthy and confident politician ready for the second presidential term. But Trump against his background looked quite active and energetic. He also seemed much more calm, especially when compared with the debates of 2020, when he shouted a lot and interrupted his opponent.

Only the old people here place

Trump’s victory on these debates is quite obvious, and for the Democrats they became, perhaps, one of the worst in the history of the United States. The New York Times interviewed 12 columnists, and not one of them said that Biden was successful. And according to the CNN survey among the audience of the debate, 67% gave the victory to Trump and only 33% - Biden. Of these, 48% are now planning to support Trump and 40% - the current president, and no other 11% like any of them.

Usually, by the time of the debate, most voters have already decided on their choice of a candidate, but they remain the most popular television event, yielding only to the American football championship - a super -cup. But this time, the debate spent earlier than usual, which means that the share of unquenchable voters can be greater, especially against the background of the unpopularity of both candidates.

In addition, the debates still have an effect: in the last three election campaigns after the first round of debate, the rating of a candidate from the ruling party changed by an average of 2.5–3%. In the current conditions, such a fluctuation can easily solve the outcome of the presidential election.

Now the Democrats are trying to recover from shock after Biden's failure debates. The focus groups of voters from the oscillating states, columnists of leading media, and even some members of the party urge the president to refuse to participate in the elections and give way to a younger candidate.

The president is called upon to refuse to participate in the elections and give way to a younger candidate

It is still possible to do this purely in theory: despite Bayden’s victory in the primaries, the candidacy will have to be approved at the party congress, which will be held in Chicago on August 19–22. But since delegates are formally obliged to vote for Biden, he will need to officially announce the refusal of the nomination in order to allow them to choose another candidate. Now, Joe Baydeen has a difficult choice: to put the interests of the country and parties above personal ambitions and get out of the election race or stay in it, daring to allow Donald Trump to return to the White House. So far, however, Biden does not intend to do this. “Of course, it does not come out,” Set Shuster, a representative of the campaign of the current president of the United States, told The Hill.