US Presidential Election 2024: What should you know about the historic Biden-Trump debate?

Both Biden, 81 years old, and Trump, 78 years old, face great challenges to prove their ability to deal with different issues and avoid any verbal gaffes, and both are seeking to achieve a superiority in opinion polls that show a closeness between the candidates.

The debate was set at 90 minutes, with two commercial breaks, a point worth noting: past debates, which were sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates rather than an individual news organization, did not have commercial breaks.

Candidates will not be allowed to speak to their aides during announcement periods, but they will have time to catch their breath and collect themselves in a way they haven’t in years past.

Each candidate was given a pen, notebook and bottle of water, and no aids or written notes were allowed on stage.

The two candidates debated in a CNN studio without an audience, a change from most previous election cycles, where live audiences were present at the debates. In 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic, only small groups of people were allowed into the debate venues.

Biden and Trump stood on adjacent platforms, and the two candidates took their places by tossing a coin.

The order of closing statements was also determined by lottery. Biden was the first to deliver his statement, and Trump had the last word in the debate. No opening statements were allowed.

CNN allowed two minutes for each answer and one minute for a refutation and response. The debate moderators, Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, were given the right to grant additional time to any candidate at their discretion.

To prevent debaters from interrupting each other, the candidates’ microphones were muted when it was not their turn to speak. This was a request from Biden, as Trump tends to interrupt opponents in debates.

US President Joe Biden said in the presidential debate that “the only party that wants the war to continue is Hamas,” referring to the Gaza war, stressing that the United States is “the largest source of support for Israel in the world,” adding: “We continue to send our experts and our intelligence people to see how they can eliminate Hamas as we did with bin Laden.”

Biden said in the debate in response to a question about the failure of Hamas or Israel to comply with the plan he proposed: “Everyone supported the plan, from the United Nations Security Council to the G7 to the Israelis and Netanyahu himself. It is Hamas that does not want the deal.”

He continued by saying: “What happened? In Israel, the only thing they hung were 2,000-pound bombs. They don’t work well in populated areas. They kill a lot of innocent people.”

Biden added, “We provide Israel with all the weapons it needs, when it needs them. And by the way, I am the man who organized the world against Iran. When they launched a full-scale ballistic missile attack on Israel, no one was hurt. No Israelis were killed by mistake and the attack stopped. We saved Israel.” .

Biden stressed that “Hamas cannot be allowed to continue, and by the way, Hamas has been greatly weakened, and it must be eliminated. But you have to be careful about using certain weapons among population centers.”

While former US President Donald Trump said that Israel is the only party that wants to continue the war, in response to US President Joe Biden’s statement that Hamas is the only party that wants to continue the war.

Trump said Biden “should leave Israel to do its job, but he doesn’t want to do that.”

Trump described his rival Biden as “becoming like a Palestinian, but they don’t like him, because he’s a very bad Palestinian, he’s weak.”

Trump responded to the question, “Do you support the establishment of an independent Palestinian state in order to support peace in the region?”

“I have to see,” he replied, before moving on to talk about agreements with European countries.

Biden said during the debate that Trump does not deserve to be president, describing him as the worst president in the history of the United States. Biden noted that even Mike Pence, Trump’s former vice president, did not support him. He strongly criticized Trump’s role in limiting the possibility of abortion, describing it as a terrible thing.

In the context of his sharp criticism, Biden told Trump: “You are the fool. You are the failure. You exaggerate and lie about immigration.” He concluded his attack by saying: “You are a condemned person.”

Biden likened his rival’s morals to an “alley cat” and said: “The crimes you’re still being accused of, think about all the civil penalties imposed on you. How many billion dollars do you owe in civil fines for harassing a woman in public? And doing a whole bunch of things… Having sex with a porn star at night – while your wife is pregnant?”

Biden turned to Trump and continued: “You have the manners of an alley cat,” while Trump denied having sex with a porn star.

During the debate, Trump said he was leading in all the polls, stressing that he would accept the election result only if it was fair. He pointed out that inflation was killing the country, accusing Biden of leaving the borders open to destroy America. He stressed that his victory in the election would be the last chance to save America from the mud.

Trump added that the Ukraine war would not have happened if the United States had a real leader. He blamed Biden for rising inflation and the killing of black citizens. Trump also warned that the world was approaching World War III because of Biden’s policies, indicating that the world was heading toward explosion due to the lack of respect for America during the Biden era.

A CNN poll released after the debate ended showed that about 8 in 10 registered voters who watched the debate (81%) say it had no impact on their choice of president, another 14% said it made them reconsider but didn’t change their mind, and 5% said they changed their mind about who they would vote for.

Debate watchers’ views of Biden dipped slightly after the debate: Just 31% viewed him favorably, compared with 37% in a poll of the same voters taken before the debate. By contrast, 43% of debate watchers viewed Trump favorably, similar to the 40% who had favorable views of him before the debate.

Forty-eight percent of debate watchers say Trump addressed concerns about his ability to handle the presidency better, while 23% say Biden did a better job and 22% say neither candidate did. Another 7% think both candidates did an equally good job of allaying concerns.

Among debate watchers, 48% said they would consider voting for Trump only, 40% said they would consider voting only for Biden, 2% said they would consider both candidates, and 11% would not consider voting for them.

“He had one thing to accomplish, which was to reassure America that he was up to the job at his age, and he failed at that tonight,” said Claire McCaskill, a former Democratic senator from Missouri.

California Governor Gavin Newsom, a loyal Biden supporter, said there should be “no panic.” “This president has delivered,” he said. “We need to deliver on commitments to him.”

For her part, former communications director in President Biden’s administration, Katie Bedingfield, on CNN after the presidential debate, described President Biden’s performance as “really disappointing,” while American politician Frank Luntz described the debate as a “political earthquake” and a “disaster.” “Unprecedented” for Democrats.

As for President Biden himself, reporters stopped him on his way to a cafe after the debate, and he said: “I think we did a good job.”

For his part, US House Speaker Mike Johnson posted on his X account a strong endorsement of former President Donald Trump, describing him as the only candidate “qualified and capable” to assume the office of president.

“This is the biggest mismatch in the history of presidential debates,” Johnson added, noting that Trump outperformed his rivals.