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The president of the United States, Donald Trump, and the Democratic opponent Joe Biden will respond this Thursday night (early Friday morning in Lisbon) to questions from undecided voters live. But, contrary to expectations, they will not be the same voters or during a debate. The showdown fell apart and now there will be rival events at the same time. Who will win the war of hearings?
Trump’s diagnosis of covid-19 just days after the first debate with Biden put their second duel in jeopardy. Plans for the debate suffered a setback last week when the president, who has now recovered, refused to do so virtually, with each candidate in a different location to prevent transmission of the virus.
The debate was later canceled by the organizers, but none of the candidates wanted to miss the opportunity to speak at the stellar hour (prime time) to Americans – The first debate was seen by at least 73 million people on the 16 channels that broadcast it (and that number does not include those who watched on mobile phones or heard on the radio).
Thus, each one will answer questions from undecided voters, assembly-style (town hall, in English), at the same time (8:00 pm on the east coast, 1:00 am on Friday in Lisbon) but on different television stations. The event with Biden is expected to last two hours (which includes at least 30 minutes of discussion after the town hall), while the only one of Trump (any analysis of the season will be later).
Biden will be in Philadelphia at an outdoor event at the National Constitution Center, broadcast on ABC and moderated by George Stephanopoulos. The former vice president of Barack Obama has always tested negative for covid-19.
Trump will be in Miami (the city where the second debate should have taken place), also outdoors at the Pérez Art Museum, in a town hall broadcast on NBC.
The president will be at a safe distance from the host, Savannah Guthrie, and the audience will wear masks. This despite the fact that NBC received information from the director of the National Institute of Health, Clifford Lane, that together with the leading infectious disease specialist in the United States, Anthony Fauci, had access to Trump’s medical data and therefore “with a high degree of confidence ”, could say that the president“ will no longer be able to infect anyone ”.
Criticism of NBC
The station is coming under fire for accepting the president’s event at the same time as the Democratic candidate’s, as this will deprive voters of the opportunity to attend both.
Katie Couric, one of America’s best-known television journalists, who has worked for both ABC and NBC, summed up on Twitter: “Having a duel of town halls it’s bad for democracy. Voters should be able to see both and I think many will not. This will be good for Trump because people like to see his unpredictability. This is a bad decision. #votem “.
NBC responds that putting Trump later would not be fair, as the president could have access to a larger audience than Biden, who participated in such an event on the television station on October 5. When asked why they weren’t giving Trump airtime the other day, NBC said the date was his choice, as the president had a free schedule because he was supposed to be at the debate.
The discussion should also be in the format town hall, unlike the first one that put the two candidates to answer the questions of the moderator and ended up marked by the constant interruptions of Trump to Biden and the attacks between them.
In the past, Trump did not seem comfortable in this format. But as a former star of reality showTrump will focus on viewership numbers, wanting to attract more people than Biden, which is more than likely, as his event will also air on partner television stations MSNBC and CNBC, while ABC will as well. broadcast on ABC
According to average polls on the RealClearPolitics website, Biden is 9.2 percentage points ahead of Trump nationwide, but despite continuing 4.9 points ahead of the president in major states, the trend is slowing. According to FiveThirtyEight analysis, Biden has an 87 out of 100 chance of winning on November 3.
