Biden and Trump Qualify for 1st Presidential Debate

President Joe Biden will face former President Donald Trump in the earliest presidential debate in history during an election year, as the window to qualify closed on June 20.

To secure a spot in CNN’s debate, candidates had to garner 15 percent of support in at least four national polls while earning viability on enough state ballots to reach the 270 delegates required to clinch the electoral college. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who ran as an independent, was unable to meet the requirements.

While this is a preamble to a likely rematch between President Biden and former President Trump, who are the presumptive nominees of their respective parties, there are several differences with this early presidential debate.

For one, the June 27 matchup will have no studio audience, unlike previous debates hosted by universities.

Candidates also agreed to microphone muting throughout the 90-minute debate. Whenever a candidate is speaking, the other candidate’s microphone will remain muted.

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According to the rules, moderators will also have the power to “use all tools at their disposal to enforce timing and ensure civilized discussion,” as previous debates between the two presidents were mired with name-calling and frequent interruptions.

There will be no props or pre-written notes allowed, but candidates will have a pad of paper, a pen, and a bottle of water at their disposal.

Both President Biden and former President Trump agreed to the rules in May, and the second debate will be hosted by ABC on Sept. 10.

A Quinnipiac poll released after the debates were announced found that 72 percent of Americans said they would likely watch the rematch between the two candidates. Twenty-seven percent, however, said they likely would not tune into the early debate.

Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, who previously ran for president in the 2016 election, said that she had filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission, alleging she has been unfairly excluded from CNN’s debate and suggested voters should hear from all candidates.

“We think that the American people are really hungry for a real debate, not just the two zombie candidates that are being rammed down our throats again,” Ms. Stein said in a June 19 interview with Scripps News.

“We know that the American people are really hungry for real debate and discussion, and I think they are owed that, and we need to have that.”

In national polls averages on RealClearPolitics, Ms. Stein has only earned roughly one percent of support.