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- The Committee on Presidential Debates announced that it will employ new rules in the upcoming debate to silence the microphones and allow each presidential candidate to have two minutes of uninterrupted time.
- The measure was designed to provide “additional structure … to the format of the remaining debates in order to ensure a more orderly discussion of the issues,” according to a statement of the commission.
- President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden will appear on the debate stage for the second time on October 22 in Nashville.
- A post-debate analysis by The Washington Post found that Trump’s interjections accounted for more than 75% of the interruptions that occurred during the debate as a whole.
- Visit the Business Insider home page for more stories.
The Committee on Presidential Debates announced a new rule to mute the microphones, allowing each candidate two minutes of uninterrupted time.
The measure was designed to provide “additional structure … to the format of the remaining debates to ensure a more orderly discussion of the issues,” according to a commission statement.
Following the first debate between President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, the commission wrote in the statement that it “has considered the opinion of many who expressed concern that the debate did not meet expectations, depriving voters of the opportunity to be informed of the positions of the candidates on the issues “.
“The Commission announces today that to enforce this agreed rule, the only candidate whose microphone will be open during these two-minute periods is the candidate who has the floor according to the rules,” the statement read.
“For the remainder of each segment, which by design is intended to be devoted to open discussion, the microphones of both candidates will be open.”
—Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) October 19, 2020
Trump and Biden will appear on the debate stage for the second time on October 22 in Nashville.
Tensions were high during the first presidential debate on September 29, as moderator Chris Wallace had trouble controlling the candidates, who were reducing each other’s speaking time.
A post-debate analysis by The Washington Post found that Trump’s interjections accounted for more than 75% of the interruptions that occurred during the debate as a whole. A count by Slate said the president interrupted Biden and Wallace a total of at least 128 times.
Another debate was scheduled for October 15, which was scheduled to take place practically after Trump tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this month. The Trump campaign indicated that it did not want to participate virtually in the debate, and the Biden campaign went on to schedule a town hall with ABC News for the same day.
Subsequently, the Trump campaign planned a town hall with NBC News at the same time, and the debate committee issued a statement on October 9 that the second debate would be canceled in light of the separate events.
In the communiqué of the debate committee on the new regulations, the panel acknowledged that “no campaign can be totally satisfied with the measures announced today. You may think that they go too far and you may think that they do not go far enough.”
“We are comfortable that these actions strike the right balance and are in the interest of the American people, for whom these discussions are taking place,” the statement concluded.
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