The 2020 Election: Debate season is on the horizon
The 2020 Election:
Debate season is on the horizon
Emma Valdiserri / Asst. News Editor
As if 2020 hasn’t yielded enough to be a year for the books, the United States is preparing for a historic election between current President and Republican party nominee, Donald J. Trump and his running mate, Mike Pence, and Democratic party nominee, former vice president Joe Biden, and his running mate, Senator Kamala Harris. The 2020 Presidential election is less than two months away, as early voting and mail-in voting ramps up, with North Carolina being the first state to begin mail-in voting as of Sept. 4. The first Presidential debate is scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 29 starting at 6 p.m. PT.
The first debate will take place at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. The nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates has announced the first moderator will be Chris Wallace of “Fox News Sunday.” Normally, the Presidential debates have more than one moderator, but considering the circumstances under COVID-19, the pandemic has instilled the necessity to have as few people on stage as possible.
The commercial-free debate will last 90 minutes and will be divided into six 15-minute topics which Wallace gets to select. He will be expected to announce these segments one week before the scheduled date of the debate.
Similar to previous debates, the two nominees will be prompted to discuss their stance on major and relevant topics like healthcare, climate change, immigration, racial inequality, reproductive rights, the state of the economy, and gun laws, among others. With limited time to discuss each topic, each nominee will have to use their time effectively in order to get their message across to the American people.
Given the nation’s state in regards to the pandemic and climate change, USD Votes President, Linnea Leidy, expressed her thoughts on what the debate will cover:.
“I feel like, unfortunately, so much of the conversation is going to have to be centered around current events [and] as a result, we won’t see as much policy,” Leidy said.
Like most things in politics, the nature of the debates has stirred controversy amongst the two parties. In response to the debates, President Trump and his campaign have unsuccessfully proposed the idea of having a fourth debate to be scheduled for early September, claiming it’s illogical for Americans to perform mail-in or early in-person voting nearly a month before they have the chance to watch a debate. The commission denied this proposal as well as all of the suggestions President Trump and his campaign had for moderators of the debates.
On the flip side, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has told reporters there shouldn’t be any debates this year, claiming there is no way to legitimize a conversation with President Trump.
“I do not think that the President of the United States has comported himself in a way that anybody should that has any association with truth, evidence, data and facts,” she stated to the press.
In response to Pelosi, Joe Biden believes there should be debates, asserting that he will fact check President Trump during the discussion and hoping the debates will veer away from personal attacks since their primary intent is to address topics that affect the entire nation.
It’s likely that many current seniors at USD were not of age to vote in the 2016 Presidential election, meaning there’s an entirely new generation of voters this time around.
“I think it’s important to watch the debates, I also think it’s also equally important not to base your entire perception of either candidate off of their performance in the debates,” Leidy said. “Watching them can serve as a helpful tool and an opportunity to kind of see where these candidates stand on certain issues and how they’re hoping to handle all these current events that are going on.”
The debate will be viewable on most major news platforms like CNN, Fox News, and NBC. The Washington Post will also be providing a live stream of the debate, free of interruptions.
Normally, USD students and faculty would be able to view the elections on USD’s campus at Frank’s Lounge. However, under the current circumstances, USD Votes and the political science department will be collaborating to promote the debate and provide a purely academic space on an application called Discord, where USD students can communicate via its messaging board and where professors can lend answers to any questions that students may have.
The second and third presidential debates are scheduled for Oct. 15 and 22. There will also be a vice-presidential debate between the current vice president, Mike Pence, and Joe Biden’s running mate, Senator Kamala Harris scheduled for Oct. 7. It’s safe to say these debates will be interesting to view and give America insight into what’s at stake on both sides of the political spectrum.