Good Morning in Cleveland, theater of the first US presidential debate
Audio 01:11
On the left, Joe Biden at the Democratic convention.
Right, Donald Trump at the Republicans' convention.
REUTERS / Kevin Lamarque /
By: Anne Corpet Follow
8 min
The two presidential candidates of November 4, Donald Trump and Joe Biden, will face each other for 90 minutes without interruption on a stage, this Tuesday evening, September 29 in Cleveland, Ohio.
A much anticipated moment in the presidential campaign in the United States.
Publicity
With our special correspondent in Cleveland,
The stakes are crucial for both candidates, in particular for Donald Trump who is behind in the polls.
The greatest pressure is on him.
Especially since the president has placed himself in a complicated situation for this debate because he has never ceased to denigrate his competitor Joe Biden whom he calls "Sleepy Joe", Joe asleep.
He accused the Democrat of being senile, of not being able to govern.
If Joe Biden does a decent performance, Donald Trump's argument may therefore fall apart.
Realizing this trap, the president recently changed his tune and felt that, all in all, Joe Biden was a decent debater.
But he accused him of taking drugs and offered some kind of doping control.
"
Watching some of the debates in the primaries I said to myself: he absolutely cannot continue, he cannot take it any longer, and suddenly when he debated with this crazy Bernie Sanders, he was ok,
said Donald Trump on Sunday 27th. September.
So I was like, how can he go from a disastrous performance to a decent performance, and people said he was on drugs.
I would like us to be tested.
I'm just asking the question, I think it would be appropriate to do some tests because you can't have a president who needs this kind of help
”.
A debate upset by the Covid-19
These checks will obviously not take place, but the conditions of this debate are all the same exceptional because because of the coronavirus pandemic the whole campaign has been upset.
Usually the debate is a moment of jubilation for the supporters of the candidates who are in the room, but this year significant restrictions have been imposed.
“
Normally, we have around 900 people in the room.
This year, we will only have 80 to 90 seats because of social distancing,
explains Frank Fahrenkopf, who co-chairs the committee that organizes these presidential debates.
The president and ex-vice-president will be on stage with moderator Chris Wallace, at a distance from each other.
And everyone in the room will have to test negative for Covid-19 and everyone will have to wear a mask.
Because of the coronavirus, there will be no handshake or elbow salute because that would be too weird
”.
We've been doing exit polls for 25 years and 70-75% of Americans say debates are a big factor in choosing who they vote for.
It is not the only factor or the most important, but it is one of the factors that comes into play.
And we think it's very, very important that the American people can watch the two people running for president of the United States to see how they react, how they answer questions.
Frank Fahrenkopf, Co-Chairman of the Presidential Debates Committee
Anne Corpet
Six topics for discussion are planned, such as the appointment of a new anti-abortion judge to the Supreme Court, the management of Covid-19 in the country with the most deaths in the world, racial tensions
since the death of George Floyd
, and certainly the
New York Times
revelations
that billionaire
Donald Trump only paid $ 750 in taxes in 2017
.
Themes selected by the referee of this evening, Chris Wallace, star journalist of Fox News, but one of the few unanimously respected in this ultra Trumpist news channel.
Nearly 100 million viewers expected
It is therefore on television that Americans will follow this debate, there could be more than 100 million in front of their screens.
It is especially for the candidates to convince the undecided ones.
The atmosphere in Cleveland is in any case super secure.
An imposing security device surrounds the room where the debate will take place.
The National Guard is deployed.
Demonstrators are expected in the street to support the two candidates and some traders who fear overflows affixed boards on their windows to protect them from Monday.
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United States
USA Elections 2020
Donald trump
Joe biden