The US presidential debate is one of the most watched televisual events. In 2020 more than 73 million people watched the first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
The first presidential debate of 2024 is to take place on Thursday, June 27 on CNN, who are hosting the event. The debate will last for 90 minutes, and can be watched on any CNN media.
The first Biden-Trump presidential debate of 2024
The 2024 election sees the same two presidential candidates from last time back on board yet again. The 81-year-old incumbent president, Joe Biden is fighting for his second consecutive term in the presidential election, while the 78-year-old Donald Trump is also looking for his second term, but not consecutively, as he lost to Joe Biden during his election run for a second term in 2020.
This year’s presidential debate comes earlier than the previous presidential debates in the election calendar, having in attendance only the two candidates who met the criteria of CNN—which happens to be the host of the first presidential debate.
There will be two presidential debates this year, the first on Thursday, June 27, hosted by CNN and the second, on Tuesday, September 10, hosted by ABC.
How to watch the first Biden-Trump presidential debate?
The 90-minute presidential debate will be hosted by CNN. It is scheduled to take place on Thursday, June 27, 2024, at 9 pm ET at CNN’s Atlanta studio.
The debate will be streamed live on CNN, CNN International, and CNN en Español. Subscribers can also stream the debate on CNN Max, and those without a cable login can watch on CNN.com.
CNN will make the debate available for simulcast on additional broadcasting networks like FOX News and ABC News. The debate will also be streamed by New York Times with real-time analysis and commentary from reporters.
The moderators for this debate are Jake Tapper and Dana Bash who are hosts of CNN’s Sunday political talk show, “State of the Union” and also fixtures on the anchor desk at CNN.
Qualifications for the 2024 presidential debate
Candidates must satisfy the requirements as stated in Article II, Section 1 of the US Constitution and also file a formal statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission in order to qualify.
Aside from this, CNN had previously set out some parameters for all participating debaters. This parameter states that:
“All participating debaters had to appear on a sufficient number of state ballots to reach the 270 electoral vote threshold to win the presidency and receive at least 15% in four separate national polls of registered or likely voters that meet CNN’s standard for reporting”.
Only Joe Biden and Donald Trump met those requirements.
Rules of the Presidential Debate
There are several rules guiding this debate and they include:
- The debate includes two commercial breaks as planned by CNN.
- Campaign staff are not to interact with their candidates during the break times.
- Candidates’ microphones must be muted except when it’s a person’s turn to speak.
- No props or pre-written notes are allowed. Candidates will be given a pen, a pad of paper and a bottle of water.
- The presidential debate will not feature a studio audience.
