This was the first time that Donald Trump and Joe Biden had debated since the 2020 campaign so The Conversation asked US government and security academic Dafydd Townley to watch the head-to-head and analyse what he thought were the most important points.
Before last night’s TV debate between the two presidential candidates, most of the speculation was about how quick on his feet Joe Biden would be. The 81-year-old president’s age had been the subject of discussion before the debate, and Biden’s performance did not reassure his supporters. Instead, his sometimes meandering performance gave weight to further concern that he is too old for the job.
Biden appeared to be hoarse and had little vocal range, causing his team mid-debate to explain that he was suffering from a cold. But he was often unclear in his answers and meandered quite badly when speaking about his southern border immigration policy.
The session, hosted by CNN, was conducted under new rules from the previous election debates. The candidates’ microphones were muted when it was not their turn to speak, allowing both candidates to speak without interruption. In the debates in 2020, Trump continually tried to interject while Biden spoke.
And, for the first time since the first presidential debate between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy, there wasn’t a studio audience, seen by some reporters as a way to reduce the amount of disruption that was experienced in the 2020 debates.
Despite agreeing to the conditions of the debate several weeks ago, Trump had tried to set the narrative surrounding the debate before it had even happened.
Beforehand, many Republicans, including Trump, had made random claims alleging that the 81-year-old president would be taking a number of performance-enhancing drugs in order to debate. Trump made similar claims in 2016 when facing Hillary Clinton, and when he faced Joe Biden in 2020.
Trump and his supporters had also questioned the impartiality of the moderators, particularly Jake Tapper.
There were, however, points to take away from the clash.
1. Biden’s age is an even bigger issue than before
This was Biden’s biggest opportunity to quell Americans’ concerns about his age, and he failed to do so. Biden’s voice was rarely raised with any confidence and he was unable to really make an impression on Trump. He repeatedly failed to criticise Trump over the attempts to overturn the 2020 election or his appointments to the Supreme Court which overruled abortion rights set out in Roe v Wade 50 years before.
After the debate, one lawmaker told reporters that he thought Biden looked “a champion boxer who gets in the ring past his prime and needs his corner to throw in the towel”.
2. Trump was restrained in his performance
The new rules that muted candidates’ microphones when they were not speaking seemed to have an effect on Trump. Only on one occasion, when Biden trailed off at the end of the sentence without finishing it, did Trump mock Biden’s age. “I really don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence,” Trump said. “I don’t think he does either.” But that was the only occasion, a remarkable transformation from four years ago.
3. Abortion rights remain a key issue
Democrats have tried to ensure that birth control and abortion rights remain central to the campaign and Biden criticised Trump’s support of an abortion ban. “It’s been a terrible thing what you’ve done,” he said to Trump, adding that a second term for Trump could bring federal abortion restrictions that would apply across the country. In response Trump said he believed in an abortion ban except “for rape, incest and the life of the mother”.
4. The contest got very personal
Both speakers took the opportunity to make barbed personal attacks on their opponent. Biden said that Trump had “the morals of an alley cat”, after claiming that Trump had slept with porn star Stormy Daniels while his wife was pregnant.
Trump defended himself by saying: “I didn’t have sex with a porn star.” Biden then stated that Trump was “the only person on this stage who’s a convicted felon” to which Trump replied that “when he talks about a convicted felon, his son is a convicted felon”.
Trump then added that Biden “could be a convicted felon as soon as he gets out of office … Joe could be a convicted felon with all of the things he’s done”.
5. The attack on the Capitol is still an issue
The issue of the January 6 insurrection and election denial was posed by moderator Jake Tapper to Trump who said that he would accept the results of the election “if it’s a fair and legal and good election”. However, Trump continued to claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him saying that the “fraud and everything else was ridiculous”.
The first televised presidential debate was in 1956 but neither Adlai Stevenson nor Dwight Eisenhower, appeared in the debate. Instead Senator Margaret Chase Smith and former First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt battled it out in a close-run thing.
Four years later, the debate between Vice President Richard Nixon and Senator John F. Kennedy, was crucial to the election outcome, although much of that judgement has been with hindsight. Many who listened to the debate on the radio believed Nixon had performed better, but the majority of viewers thought that the tanned young senator appealed more than Nixon, who appeared to be sweating under the television lights.
Many observers also point to the second debate in the 1992 election when President George H.W. Bush checked his watch thirty minutes into the debate. For many viewers who watched it, Bush seemed to be disinterested with the issues being discussed. His opponent, Bill Clinton, won the debate by engaging with an audience member about the recession.
Whether last night’s debate has provided us with either of those critical moments will only be revealed in the postmortem for the November election. What is certain is that many Democrats are far more concerned about Biden’s performance than they were before. And that could be the most memorable thing about this debate.