Joe Biden vs Donald Trump debate: When is it, and how to watch from New Zealand

Joe Biden and Donald Trump will meet today in Atlanta for a televised debate. Photos / AP

Join us at 1pm as the Herald covers the first US presidential debate live.

By Nik Dirga of RNZ

It’s the repeat match-up that nobody in America really seems to want, but US President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are set to battle it out on the debate stage on Friday afternoon NZ time in their first debate of the 2024 election campaign.

How can I watch it here?

The debate runs from 1pm to 2.30pm NZT on Friday.

Biden and Trump will meet in Atlanta in a debate hosted by CNN and moderated by Jake Tapper and Dana Bash.

In New Zealand, you can watch it through Three Now’s free CNN Fast channel, and Sky TV subscribers can view it on CNN, Fox News and Sky News Australia.

It also should be streamed live on the CNN international website.

Wait, haven’t we seen this show before?

Yessir. In 2020, Biden and Trump debated twice (a third debate was cancelled when Trump contracted Covid-19).

This year is the first time since 1956 that there’s been a rematch in the presidential race (back then, it was President Dwight Eisenhower and repeat Democrat nominee Adlai Stevenson).

And to get really arcane, it’s the first time there’s been a contest between a former and sitting US President since all the way back in 1892, when Democratic former President Grover Cleveland defeated Republican Benjamin Harrison to win back the White House after he lost it in 1888. (And it’s also pretty much the only thing anyone remembers Benjamin Harrison for, other than his extremely formidable beard.)

Okay, but isn’t it a little bit early in the election cycle for this kind of thing? The election isn’t until November 5

It’s extremely early. This June debate is the earliest since modern presidential debates began in 1960. Usually, the debate cycle kicks off after the American Labour Day holiday in early September.

There’s a big reason the campaigns agreed to this — most polls show the race very close to being tied, with Biden’s poor approval ratings and Trump’s highly controversial public image creating a contest where both candidates seem to be equally despised by many Americans. Both will hope a debate pushes the gridlocked polls one way or another.

This debate is so early that technically, Biden and Trump are only the presumptive nominees for their parties — the Democrat and Republican nominating conventions don’t start until July to make it all official.

At the moment, one other debate is planned between Biden and Trump, for September 10.

Independent candidate Robert Kennedy jnr, who has been a possible spoiler in some polls, did not meet polling thresholds for the debate, CNN said.

How’s this debate going to work anyway? Are they just going to be shouting at each other for 90 minutes?

This debate is unusual on several levels. A non-partisan Commission on Presidential Debates had been organising debates since 1988, but the campaigns have snubbed it this year. There was criticism about how the debates were run in 2020, and this year the campaigns negotiated directly to set up their own matches.

There will be no opening statements, but each candidate will get a two-minute closing statement. Candidates will have two minutes to respond to questions and one-minute rebuttals and responses. The moderators will allow extra time at their discretion.

Debates have been marred by heckling and interruptions in recent years — by many candidates, not just Trump — and to head that off Biden and Trump’s microphones will be muted except when they are speaking.

There will also be no studio audience, which in the past has lended a raucous carnival atmosphere to the debates.

The first televised debate was between John F. Kennedy (pictured) and Richard Nixon, in 1960. Photo / White House

Do debates really make a difference in presidential elections?

They don’t always change the course of history, but a debate can make a difference.

The first televised debate, between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy in 1960, is widely credited for helping Kennedy eke out a narrow win because he appeared the smoother, more relaxed candidate on the screen. In 1976, President Gerald Ford made a major gaffe when he claimed there was no Soviet domination in Eastern Europe (spoiler: there was) and many think it cost him the election to Democrat Jimmy Carter.

In 1984, Ronald Reagan — at 73, then the oldest President and drawing similar fire to Biden now — flipped the narrative on Democrat Walter Mondale by joking that he wouldn’t “exploit for political purposes my opponent’s youth and inexperience”.

Sometimes it’s not even anything the candidate says that tilts the needle against them — President George H.W. Bush checked his watch during a town hall debate in 1992 and it sent a message he wasn’t really engaged with voter concerns. Al Gore sighing audibly while debating George W. Bush in 2000 made him seem snobby, while Donald Trump frequently looming behind Hillary Clinton in 2016 as she spoke gave off a “stalker” vibe to many.

Donald Trump frequently looming behind Hillary Clinton in 2016 as she spoke gave off a “stalker” vibe to many. Photo / AP

What are the big issues?

There’s all the usual contentious American political issues that will probably be discussed — inflation, the economy, immigration, climate change, culture wars and real wars, abortion, and the fact that Trump is now the first convicted felon President — but when it gets down to it, the single biggest issue this election might just be age.

Biden is 81, and Trump is 78 — both are the oldest and second-oldest Presidents in US history respectively, and the New Yorker described them this week as “two singularly inarticulate politicians who struggle to formulate their thoughts clearly”.

There have been plenty of concerns by Americans about whether a President in or near their 80s can be effective, and the internet is flooded with rumours, misinformation and worries about whether either man is up for the job. Biden, who has battled a stuttering problem for much of his life, has been known to make gaffes, while Trump’s fiery and frequently rambling campaign speeches are also controversial.

In the end, it doesn’t matter what either candidate says about policy — if they have a massive verbal stumble or temper tantrum, that’ll be the headlines.

The biggest job either candidate faces is proving to a deeply polarised America and the tiny sliver of undecided voters out there that they are capable, confident and clear-headed enough to be President for the next four years.