Trump, Biden in spotlight for first presidential debate

With+less+than+40+days+until+the+election%2C+President+Donald+Trump+and+Democratic+presidential+nominee+Joe+Biden+will+take+to+the+debate+stands+for+the+first+time+Tuesday+night.

With less than 40 days until the election, President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden will take to the debate stands for the first time Tuesday night.

Jacob Tubbs

Editor’s Note: The original publication of this article stated the incorrect start time for the presidential debate, article has been updated with the correct time. The Daily regrets this error.

The first presidential debate will be at 8 p.m. Tuesday in Cleveland, Ohio. This will be the first of three debates between President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. 

Moderated by Fox News anchor Chris Wallace, the first debate will touch on America’s most relevant issues. The talking points will include Trump and Biden’s political records, the Supreme Court, the pandemic, the protests over racial injustice, election integrity and the state of the economy, according to BBC

Americans always seem to tune into presidential debates. According to the data analytics company Nielsen, the 2016 presidential debate averaged over 80 million viewers; however, the actual influence the debate has over voters can vary. 

Mark Murray, senior political editor for NBC News, tweeted the results of a poll NBC ran asking for the degree of importance this upcoming presidential debate is going to have. 

The debate is extremely important to 18 percent of voters, 11 percent said it is quite important, 27 percent said it is just somewhat important and 44 percent said the debate is not at all important, according to Murray. 

The “winner” of the debate also may not always decide what election day may look like.  

In a poll conducted by Politico based off of the Oct. 19, 2016, presidential debate between Trump and Hillary Clinton, if the “winner” of that debate was a clear indicator of who would be president, Clinton would be in office right now. According to the poll, 43 percent of people thought Clinton won, compared to the only 26 percent who thought Trump won. 

The debate begins at 8 p.m. Central Standard Time and can be viewed live on multiple platforms such as ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, PBS, CNN and YouTube.