Presidential debates, 2020
Date: November 3, 2020 |
 Donald Trump Joe Biden Howie Hawkins Jo Jorgensen
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The Commission on Presidential Debates held two presidential debates and one vice presidential debate in 2020.
The first presidential debate took place in Cleveland, Ohio, on September 29, 2020. Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Clinic co-hosted the event. Fox News' Chris Wallace moderated.
On October 9, 2020, the commission canceled a planned second debate between President Donald Trump (R) and former Vice President Joe Biden (D). The event had been scheduled for October 15, 2020.[1] Click here to learn more about the disagreement between the commission and campaigns over the format and timeline of the debate.
The final presidential debate took place in Nashville, Tennessee, on October 22, 2020, at Belmont University. NBC News' Kristen Welker was the moderator.
The only vice presidential debate took place on October 7, 2020, at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. USA Today's Susan Page moderated the event.
During the primary election, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) also held 11 presidential debates between June 2019 and March 2020. Click here for more information about the Democratic primary debates.
General election debates
- See also: Presidential debates, 2020
The following table provides an overview of the date, location, and host in each scheduled 2020 general election debate.
| 2020 general election debates | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Debate | Date | Location | Host | |
| First presidential debate | September 29, 2020 | Cleveland, Ohio | Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Clinic | |
| Vice presidential debate | October 7, 2020 | Salt Lake City, Utah | University of Utah | |
| Second presidential debate | Canceled |
Miami, Florida | Adrienne Arsht Center | |
| Third presidential debate | October 22, 2020 | Nashville, Tennessee | Belmont University | |
Presidential debate on October 22, 2020
- See also: Presidential debate (October 22, 2020)
The Commission on Presidential Debates held the final presidential debate on October 22, 2020, between President Donald Trump (R) and former Vice President Joe Biden (D).
The debate was 90 minutes without commercial breaks. It was divided into six, 15-minute segments on the following topics selected by moderator, NBC News' Kristen Welker.[2][3]
- Fighting COVID-19
- American families
- Race in America
- Climate change
- National security
- Leadership
The commission announced on October 19 that each candidate's microphone would be muted during the other candidate's two-minute opening remarks for each of the six segments. During the rest of the debate, the microphones would be on for open discussion. Both campaigns agreed to the rule.[4][5]
To qualify, a candidate had to meet certain constitutional, ballot access, and polling requirements. Click here to learn more about them.
 Joe Biden (D) |
 Donald Trump (R) |
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Video and transcript
By the numbers
Candidate highlights
The candidates discussed the coronavirus pandemic, election interference, foreign conflicts of interest, China, North Korea, healthcare, economic stimulus, immigration, race, and climate change.
This section includes highlights for each presidential candidate. The following paraphrased statements were compiled from the transcript of the debate.
Joe Biden said Trump did not take responsibility for the 220,000 deaths caused by the coronavirus in the United States or have a plan to safely reopen the economy and schools. He said his healthcare plan, Bidencare, would be Obamacare with a public option. Biden said Trump’s family separation policy violated the nation’s values. Biden called climate change an existential threat. He said the country needed to transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy over time.
Donald Trump said a coronavirus vaccine would be available sooner than what his officials projected. He said schools and businesses needed to reopen. Trump said Biden failed to address immigration and criminal justice reform while he was vice president. He also said that Biden and his family received money from foreign countries. Trump said his tax and regulatory policy would help rebuild the economy. He said success would unify the country.
Vice presidential debate on October 7, 2020
The Commission on Presidential Debates held a vice presidential debate on October 7, 2020, between Vice President Mike Pence (R) and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif).
The debate was 90 minutes long and divided into 10-minute segments. USA Today's Susan Page moderated the debate.[6] Harris and Pence discussed the coronavirus pandemic, economy, climate change, China, foreign policy, abortion, healthcare, race, and the election. Click here for highlights from each candidate.
 Kamala Harris (D) |
 Mike Pence (R) |
To qualify, a candidate had to meet certain constitutional, ballot access, and polling requirements. Click here to learn more about them.
Video and transcript
By the numbers
Candidate highlights
This section includes highlights for each vice presidential candidate with a focus on policy. The following paraphrased statements were compiled from the transcript of the debate. A candidate's opponents are generally not mentioned in his or her summary unless there was a significant exchange between them.
Kamala Harris called Trump's response to the coronavirus pandemic the greatest failure of any administration. She said Trump and Pence knew the virus was airborne and deadly in January 2020 and did not provide Americans with the information they needed. She said Biden’s coronavirus plan focused on contact tracing and testing. She said she would take a vaccine if public health officials recommended it.
Harris discussed her career as a state attorney general and senator. She said voters had a right to know about the president’s health and tax records. She said Trump was $400 million in debt. Harris said Biden would repeal Trump’s tax bill and not raise taxes on anyone making less than $400,000 a year. She said Trump rode the coattails of the economic recovery Biden created. She said Biden did not want to end fracking. She said Trump was trying to end the Affordable Care Act and that this would eliminate protections for people with preexisting conditions.
Harris said the Trump administration does not believe in science. She said Biden would invest in renewable energy and reach net zero emissions by 2050. She said Trump lost the trade war with China and 300,000 manufacturing jobs. She said Biden saved the auto industry. Harris said Trump disbanded the office responsible for monitoring pandemics. She said Trump made America unsafe through a unilateral and isolationist foreign policy. She said Trump insulted and did not care about service members.
Harris said President Lincoln waited until after his re-election to fill a Supreme Court vacancy that occurred 27 days before the presidential election. She said Trump should also wait. She said Trump had not appointed a Black judge to a lifetime appointment on the courts of appeal. Harris said justice was not done in Breonna Taylor’s case and called for criminal justice reform. She said implicit bias existed in law enforcement. Harris said Trump has openly attempted to suppress the vote.
Mike Pence said Trump suspended all travel from China in response to the coronavirus pandemic and saved hundreds of thousands of lives. He said he believed the U.S. would have a vaccine before the end of the year. Pence said Trump surged resources to states with high fatality rates. He said the Rose Garden event announcing Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court nomination followed scientific advice. He said Trump trusted Americans to make decisions about their own health.
Pence said Harris was undermining public confidence in a vaccine. He said the Obama administration failed during the swine flu pandemic and were lucky that it was less lethal than COVID-19. Pence said Trump paid millions of dollars in property and payroll taxes. He said Trump had added back 11.6 million jobs since the pandemic began. Pence said Biden wanted to ban fracking. He said the United States reduced CO2 emissions through innovation rather than mandates.
Pence said the United States lost 200,000 manufacturing jobs when Biden was vice president. He said Harris put her environmental agenda ahead of American workers by opposing the United States–Mexico–Canada trade agreement. Pence said Trump strengthened alliances in the Asia Pacific and destroyed the ISIS caliphate. He said Biden failed to save ISIS hostage Kayla Mueller.
Pence questioned whether Harris would give Amy Coney Barrett a fair hearing because of Barrett's Christian faith. He said he was pro-life. He said the Trump administration stood behind the separation of powers and a nine-seat Supreme Court. Pence said he trusted the justice system in Breonna Taylor’s case. He said there was no excuse for the rioting and looting that followed George Floyd’s death. He said Harris did nothing for criminal justice reform in California. He said Democrats had spent the past three years trying to overturn the results of the 2016 election. Pence said universal mail-in voting created the opportunity for fraud.
First debate on September 29, 2020
- See also: Presidential debate (September 29, 2020)
The Commission on Presidential Debates held the first of three presidential debates on September 29, 2020, between President Donald Trump (R) and former Vice President Joe Biden (D).
The debate was 90 minutes without commercial breaks. It was divided into 15-minute segments on the following six topics:[7]
- The Trump and Biden records
- The Supreme Court
- COVID-19
- The economy
- Race and violence in our cities
- The integrity of the election
Fox News' Chris Wallace, the debate's moderator, selected the topics.[8]
Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio, co-hosted the debate. The University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, was originally scheduled to host the event but withdrew on July 27, 2020, in response to the coronavirus pandemic.[9][10] The debate took place in person at the Sheila and Eric Samson Pavilion.[11]
To qualify, a candidate had to meet certain constitutional, ballot access, and polling requirements. Click here to learn more about them.
Joe Biden (D) |
Donald Trump (R) |
||||
Video and transcript
By the numbers
Candidate highlights
This section includes highlights for each presidential candidate with a focus on policy. The following paraphrased statements were compiled from the transcript of the debate. A candidate's opponents are generally not mentioned in his or her summary unless there was a significant exchange between them.
Joe Biden discussed the Supreme Court vacancy, coronavirus pandemic, economy, race and violence, climate change, and election integrity. Biden said the Supreme Court vacancy should be filled after the election to give voters a say. He said the Affordable Care Act and women’s rights were at stake with Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination. On healthcare, Biden said only people who qualified for Medicaid would be automatically enrolled in a public health option. He said Trump had no healthcare plan. Biden said Trump knew how deadly the COVID-19 pandemic was and did not have a plan to address it. He said Trump was irresponsible with his handling of masks. He said schools and businesses were not supported to reopen safely. Biden said billionaires benefited from COVID-19 because Trump focused on the stock market. He said Trump would be the first president to leave office with fewer jobs than when he came in. Biden said his economic plan would create 7 million more jobs than Trump had and $1 trillion in economic growth. He said he would raise the corporate tax rate to 28%. He said the Obama administration inherited the worst economy and fixed it, while Trump blew a booming economy.
He said Trump’s statements about Biden's son’s business dealings had been discredited. He criticized Trump’s response to protests in Charlottesville in 2017 and George Floyd’s death. Biden said there was systemic injustice and called for increased funding for community policing. He said violent crime has increased under the Trump administration. Biden discussed the military service of his son, Beau, and the drug addiction recovery of his other son, Hunter. Biden said his plan would create thousands of green jobs and lead to net-zero carbon emissions by 2035. He said the plan was not the Green New Deal. Biden said Trump was afraid of mail-in voting.
Donald Trump discussed the Supreme Court vacancy, coronavirus pandemic, economy, race and violence, climate change, and election integrity. Trump praised his Supreme Court pick, Amy Coney Barrett. He said Republicans had the right to nominate her because they won the last election. He said Biden supported socialist medicine. Trump said he signed an executive order that would reduce prescription drug prices. Trump said millions would have died from COVID-19 if Biden were president. He said a vaccine could be available sooner but politics was delaying it. He criticized strict shutdowns in Democratic-run states and said Biden would shut down the country. Trump said he paid millions in federal income tax in 2016 and 2017. As a businessman, Trump said he did not want to pay taxes and used tax credits and depreciation. Trump said the Obama administration had the slowest economic recovery since 1929, while he brought back manufacturing and 700,000 jobs. Trump said Biden’s son, Hunter, received $3.5 million from a Russian billionaire.
Trump criticized the effect of Biden’s 1994 crime bill on Black Americans. He said he had support from military leaders and law enforcement groups across the country. Trump said he ended racial sensitivity training because it was racist. Trump said increases in crime across the country were a party issue. When asked if he would condemn white supremacist and militia groups, Trump said sure. He said the Proud Boys should stand back and stand by and that someone should do something about Antifa. Trump said he created the greatest economy and lowest unemployment numbers in history prior to COVID-19. He said that he will have appointed 300 federal judges. Trump attributed West Coast wildfires to poor forest management. He said he rolled back the Obama Clean Power Plan because it drove up energy prices. He said there was no free transition in 2016 because Democrats sought a coup on his campaign. He said unsolicited mail-in ballots would lead to fraud.
Candidate selection criteria
The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) used the following criteria to select candidates to participate in the 2020 general election presidential debates:[12]
- The candidate must satisfy the constitutional eligibility requirements, including being at least 35 years old, a natural born citizen, and a resident of the United States for fourteen years.
- The candidate must appear on enough state ballots to be eligible to secure at least 270 electoral votes—a majority in the Electoral College—or more.
- The candidate must receive, on average, at least 15% support nationally in the most recent polls from five public opinion polling organizations. The CPD will use the following polls:
- ABC/Washington Post Poll
- CNN Poll
- Fox News Poll
- NBC/Wall Street Journal Poll
- NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist Poll
Noteworthy events
The University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, was originally scheduled to host the first presidential debate but withdrew in response to the coronavirus pandemic. On July 27, 2020, the event was moved to Cleveland, Ohio.[13][14]
On June 23, 2020, the commission announced the second presidential debate was moving from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, to the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami, Florida. Mark Schlissel, the president of the University of Michigan, said the complexity of preparing for a safe reopening during the coronavirus pandemic made hosting the debate unfeasible.[15][16]
Request for additional debates
In August 2020, Rudy Giuliani sent a letter to the Commission on Presidential Debates on behalf of the Trump campaign requesting a fourth debate be held in early September before states began to send out absentee ballots. If not, Giuliani said the third debate should be moved from October 22, 2020, to the first week in September.[17]
The commission rejected the request to add a fourth debate or alter the schedule. “While more people will likely vote by mail in 2020, the debate schedule has been and will be highly publicized. Any voter who wishes to watch one or more debates before voting will be well aware of that opportunity,” the commission’s co-chairs said on August 6, 2020.[18]
The Trump campaign previously requested that the commission organize a fourth debate in June 2020. In a phone call with Frank Fahrenkopf, the co-chair of the commission, Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale said, "We want fair debates. We want them sooner and we want a bigger schedule. We also don’t want them up against football games competing for viewers."[19]
The Trump campaign also requested that both campaigns be permitted to select and veto moderators.[19]
The Biden campaign responded in a letter to the commission, "Our position is straightforward and clear: Biden will accept the Commission's debates, on the Commission's dates, under the Commission's established format and the Commission's independent choice of moderators." Biden campaign manager Jennifer O'Malley Dillon called the request a distraction.[19]
Democratic presidential primary debates, 2019-2020
- See also: Democratic presidential nomination, 2020
The following table provides an overview of the date, location, host, and number of participants in each scheduled 2020 Democratic presidential primary debate.
History of televised presidential debates
Although the 1960 general election debate between John F. Kennedy (D) and Richard Nixon (R) is frequently cited as the first televised presidential debate, two came before it.
The first televised presidential debate took place on May 21, 1956, when an ABC affiliate in Miami broadcast a Democratic primary debate between Adlai Stevenson and Estes Kefauver.[20] In the general election that year, Stevenson and incumbent President Dwight Eisenhower (R) used surrogates in a televised debate on November 4, 1956. They were represented by former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt (D) and Sen. Margaret Chase Smith (R), respectively.[21]
The Kennedy-Nixon debates that took place four years later showed the importance of television as a visual medium, "Nixon, pale and underweight from a recent hospitalization, appeared sickly and sweaty, while Kennedy appeared calm and confident. As the story goes, those who listened to the debate on the radio thought Nixon had won. But those listeners were in the minority. ... Those that watched the debate on TV thought Kennedy was the clear winner. Many say Kennedy won the election that night," TIME reported on the 50th anniversary of the event.[22]
While a handful of presidential primary debates were held between 1964 and 1972, the televised presidential debate did not become a staple of American politics until 1976.[23]
Overview
The following chart shows the number of presidential and vice presidential debates that took place in each election cycle between 1960 and 2024.
List of presidential debates, 1960-2024
The following table shows the date, location, and moderators for each presidential debate between 1960 and 2024.[24]
| Presidential debates, 1960-2024 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Date | Location | Moderator |
| September 26, 1960 | Chicago, IL | Howard K. Smith, CBS News |
| October 7, 1960 | Washington, D.C. | Frank McGee, NBC |
| October 13, 1960 | Los Angeles, CA / New York, NY | Bill Shadel, ABC |
| October 21, 1960 | New York, NY | Quincy Howe, ABC News |
| September 23, 1976 | Philadelphia, PA | Edwin Newman, NBC News |
| October 6, 1976 | San Francisco, CA | Pauline Frederick, NPR |
| October 22, 1976 | Williamsburg, VA | Barbara Walters, ABC News |
| September 21, 1980 | Baltimore, MD | Bill Moyers, PBS |
| October 28, 1980 | Cleveland, OH | Howard K. Smith, ABC News |
| October 7, 1984 | Louisville, KY | Barbara Walters, ABC News |
| October 21, 1984 | Kansas City, MO | Edwin Newman, formerly NBC News |
| September 25, 1988 | Winson-Salem, N.C. | Jim Lehrer, PBS |
| October 13, 1988 | Los Angeles, CA | Bernard Shaw, CNN |
| October 11, 1992 | St. Louis, MO | Jim Lehrer, PBS |
| October 15, 1992 | Richmond, VA | Carole Simpson, ABC |
| October 19, 1992 | East Lansing, MI | Jim Lehrer, PBS |
| October 6, 1996 | Hartford, CT | Jim Lehrer, PBS |
| October 16, 1996 | San Diego, CA | Jim Lehrer, PBS |
| October 3, 2000 | Boston, MA | Jim Lehrer, PBS |
| October 11, 2000 | Winson-Salem, N.C. | Jim Lehrer, PBS |
| October 17, 2000 | St. Louis, MO | Jim Lehrer, PBS |
| September 30, 2004 | Coral Gables, FL | Jim Lehrer, PBS |
| October 8, 2004 | St. Louis, MO | Charles Gibson, ABC |
| October 13, 2004 | Tempe, AZ | Bob Schieffer, CBS |
| September 26, 2008 | Oxford, MS | Jim Lehrer, PBS |
| October 7, 2008 | Nashville, TN | Tom Brokaw, NBC |
| October 15, 2008 | Hempstead, NY | Bob Schieffer, CBS |
| October 3, 2012 | Denver, CO | Jim Lehrer, PBS |
| October 16, 2012 | Hempstead, NY | Candy Crowley, CNN |
| October 22, 2012 | Boca Raton, FL | Bob Schieffer, CBS |
| September 26, 2016 | Hempstead, NY | Lester Holt, NBC |
| October 9, 2016 | St. Louis, MO | Martha Raddatz, ABC Anderson Cooper, CNN |
| October 19, 2016 | Las Vegas, NV | Chris Wallace, FOX |
| September 29, 2020 | Cleveland, OH | Chris Wallace, FOX |
| October 22, 2020 | Nashville, TN | Kristen Welker, NBC |
| June 27, 2024 | Atlanta, GA | Dana Bash and Jake Tapper, CNN |
| September 10, 2024 | Philadelphia, PA | David Muir and Linsey Davis, ABC |
2016 presidential debates
- See also: Presidential debates (2015-2016)
More than two dozen primary and general election debates took place during the 2016 presidential election cycle. The first general election presidential debate took place on September 26, 2016, in New York. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump debated and Lester Holt of NBC News moderated. An estimated 84 million people tuned in to the first debate, a record in the history of presidential debates. The previous record was held by Ronald Reagan (R) and Jimmy Carter (D), who attracted 80.6 million viewers in 1980.[25]
Two more general election debates were held on October 9, 2016, at Washington University and on October 19, 2016, at the University of Nevada. Vice presidential candidates Tim Kaine (D) and Mike Pence (R) also debate on October 4, 2016, at Longwood University.
2016 presidential primary debates
Democrats held nine primary debates. The last took place on April 14, 2016, between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Republicans held 12 primary debates; the final debate was held on March 10, 2016, with Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, and Marco Rubio.
Democratic Debates
- October 13, 2015
- November 14, 2015
- December 19, 2015
- January 17, 2016
- February 4, 2016
- February 11, 2016
- March 6, 2016
- March 9, 2016
- April 14, 2016
Republican Debates
- August 6, 2015
- September 16, 2015
- October 28, 2015
- November 10, 2015
- December 15, 2015
- January 14, 2016
- January 28, 2016
- February 6, 2016
- February 13, 2016
- February 25, 2016
- March 3, 2016
- March 10, 2016
See also
- Presidential candidates, 2020
- Democratic presidential nomination, 2020
- Republican presidential nomination, 2020
- Democratic presidential primary debates, 2020
- Presidential debates (2015-2016)
Footnotes
- ↑ CNN, "Commission cancels second debate between Trump and Biden," October 9, 2020
- ↑ Washington Post, "What to know about the 2020 presidential debates," August 14, 2020
- ↑ Commission on Presidential Debates, "Moderator Announces Topics for Oct. 22 Presidential Debate," October 16, 2020
- ↑ Politico, "Debate commission to cut the mics at Trump-Biden showdown," October 19, 2020
- ↑ NPR, "Debate Commission To Mute Candidates' Mics At Start Of Each Segment," October 19, 2020
- ↑ Axios, "Commission on Presidential Debates announces moderators," September 2, 2020
- ↑ Commission on Presidential Debates, "Moderator Announces Topics for First Presidential Debate," September 22, 2020
- ↑ Washington Post, "What to know about the 2020 presidential debates," August 14, 2020
- ↑ Commission on Presidential Debates, "CPD Statement," December 16, 2019
- ↑ Commission on Presidential Debates, "Statement: First Presidential Debate," July 27, 2020
- ↑ Cleveland Clinic, "Case Western Reserve and Cleveland Clinic to Host First Presidential Debate Tuesday, Sept. 29, in Health Education Campus’ Samson Pavilion," August 27, 2020
- ↑ Commission on Presidential Debates, "Commission on Presidential Debates Announces Polls to be used in 2020 Candidate Selection Criteria," August 28, 2020
- ↑ Commission on Presidential Debates, "CPD Statement," December 16, 2019
- ↑ Commission on Presidential Debates, "Statement: First Presidential Debate," July 27, 2020
- ↑ Talking Points Memo, "Presidential Debate To Be Moved To Miami After UMich Withdraws Commitment To Host," June 23, 2020
- ↑ Commission on Presidential Debates, "Statement: Second Presidential Debate," June 23, 2020
- ↑ Rudy Giuliani, "Letter to the Commission on Presidential Debates," August 5, 2020
- ↑ CBS12, "Possibility of early presidential debate fades as commission rejects Trump's request," August 6, 2020
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 USA Today, "Biden campaign commits to three debates, rejects Trump team's call for more as 'distraction,'" June 23, 2020
- ↑ Illinois Channel, "From 1956, the First Televised Presidential Debate," June 15, 2016
- ↑ United States Senate, "The First Televised Presidential Debate," accessed June 12, 2019
- ↑ TIME, "How the Nixon-Kennedy Debate Changed the World," September 23, 2010
- ↑ Center for Politics, "Eight Decades of Debate," July 30, 2015
- ↑ Commission on Presidential Debates, "Debate History," accessed September 28, 2020
- ↑ Commission on Presidential Debates, "1980 Debates," accessed October 10, 2016
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