Twelve news organizations on Sunday urged presidential candidates Joe Biden and Donald Trump to agree to participate in the debate, calling it a “rich tradition” in every general election campaign since 1976.
While Trump has not participated in the debate for the Republican nomination and has expressed a willingness to take on his 2020 rivals, the Democratic president has not yet committed to debating him again.
Although invitations have not yet been officially sent out, news organizations said it would be premature for the campaigns to publicly say they would participate in three presidential and one vice-presidential forums established by the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates.
“If Americans can agree on one thing during this polarized time, it’s that the stakes in this election are unusually high,” the groups said in a joint statement. “Against this backdrop, candidates in the U.S. There’s no substitute for having people debate each other and express their vision for our country’s future.”
ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox, PBS, NBC, NPR and the Associated Press all signed the letter.
Biden and Trump debated twice in 2020.
When asked on March 8 whether he would be willing to debate Trump, Biden said, “It depends on his behavior.” In the freewheeling first debate of 2020, the president was clearly impressed by his opponent Annoyed, he said at one point: “Can you shut up?”
Trump campaign managers Suzy Wells and Chris LaCivita said in a letter last week, “We have expressed President Trump’s willingness to hold debates anytime, anywhere — and now is the time to start those debates. .
Citing seven 1858 debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas in the Illinois Senate, they said “America today certainly deserves the same treatment.”
The Republican National Committee voted in 2022 to no longer participate in forums hosted by the Commission on Presidential Debates. The Trump campaign has not said it will comply with the rule, but it did impose some conditions. The campaign manager said the committee selected a “clearly anti-Trump host” in 2020, then-Fox News host Chris Wallace, and wanted to ensure that committee debates were fair and impartial.
The Trump campaign is also hoping for early voting, saying many Americans will vote before Sept. 16, Oct. 1 and Oct. 9, the three debate dates set by the committee.
The Biden campaign declined to comment on the letter from news organizations, pointing to the president’s earlier statements. There was no immediate response from the Trump campaign.
But on Saturday, Trump held a rally in northeastern Pennsylvania with two podiums set up on the stage: one for him to deliver his speech, and another to symbolize what he said was Biden’s refusal to debate him. A placard on the second podium read: “Anytime. Anywhere. Anywhere.”
Midway through his campaign speech, Trump turned to his right and pointed toward the second podium.
“We have a little bit, look at this, for him,” he said. “See the podium? I’m calling on crooked Joe Biden to debate anytime, anywhere. Right there. We have to debate because our country is going seriously in the wrong direction, and while it’s kind of typical early on, we have to debate .
C-SPAN, NewsNation and Univision also joined the letter calling for debate. Only one newspaper, USA Today, expressed its opinion.
Of course, broadcasters can take advantage of the benefits that debates can bring. TV news ratings are down sharply compared with the 2020 campaign, even though interest in news increased four years ago despite other factors such as the blackout and the pandemic.
There are no Democratic debates this presidential cycle, and Trump’s refusal to participate in Republican forums has reduced interest in them.
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