Democrat President Joe Biden and his Republican rival Donald Trump traded attacks on their handling of the economy in the opening minutes of their debate on Thursday night, giving voters a rare side-by-side look at the two oldest candidates ever to seek the U.S. presidency.
Biden acknowledged that inflation had driven prices substantially higher than at the start of his term but said he deserves credit for putting "things back together again" following the coronavirus pandemic.
Trump asserted that he had overseen "the greatest economy in the history of our country" before the pandemic struck and said he took action to prevent the economic free fall from deepening even further.
Biden, 81, and Trump, 78, were under pressure to display their command of issues and avoid verbal stumbles as they sought a breakout moment in a race that opinion polls show has been deadlocked for months. The 90-minute televised clash on CNN was taking place far earlier than any modern presidential debate, more than four months before the Nov. 5 Election Day.
The two candidates appeared with no live audience, and their microphones automatically cut off when it was not their turn to speak - both atypical rules imposed to avoid the chaos that derailed their first debate in 2020, when Trump interrupted Biden repeatedly.
As the debate began, the two men - who have made little secret of their mutual dislike - did not shake hands or acknowledge one another.
The debate takes place at a moment of profound polarization and deep-seated anxiety among voters about the state of American politics. Two-thirds of voters said in a May Reuters/Ipsos poll that they were concerned violence could follow the election, nearly four years after a mob of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol.
Trump took the stage as a felon who still faces a trio of criminal cases, including to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. The former president, who persists in falsely claiming his defeat was the result of fraud, has suggested he will punish his political enemies if returned to power, but he will need to convince undecided voters that he does not pose a mortal threat to democracy, as Biden asserts.
Biden's challenge was to deliver a forceful performance after months of Republican assertions that his faculties have dulled with age. During his first answers, he sounded hoarse and cleared his throat several times.
Biden advisers said he would emphasize Trump's role in threatening abortion access, portray him as a danger to democratic norms and remind voters of Trump's often chaotic 2017-2021 term in office.
Trump planned to focus on the high levels of inflation and record numbers of migrants who have entered the country illegally under Biden's watch and question his world leadership at a time of war in Gaza and Ukraine, Trump advisers said.
DISLIKED DUO
While national polls show a tied race or Trump ahead, Biden has trailed Trump in polls of most battleground states that traditionally decide presidential elections. Just this month he lost his financial edge over Trump, whose fundraising surged after he was criminally convicted of trying to cover up hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels.
"Biden needs a change in the status quo, and this debate is his best opportunity yet to do it," said Jacob Rubashkin, an elections analyst at the nonpartisan website Inside Elections. Neither Biden nor Trump is popular and many Americans remain deeply ambivalent about their choices. About a fifth of voters say they have not picked a candidate, are leaning toward a third-party candidate or may sit the election out, the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll showed.
"They're horrible candidates," said Kathy Elder, a 59-year-old sales manager who voted for Trump in 2016 before switching to Biden in 2020.
Elder, who planned to watch the debate, said she cringes whenever they speak – for different reasons.
When it comes to Biden, she said, "Can he speed this up and actually talk?" As for Trump, she said, "What the hell is going to come out of his mouth?"
Trump's niece Mary Trump, who has been critical of her uncle, will join Biden's campaign in its media spin room following the debate, a campaign official said.
Several contenders to be Trump's vice presidential pick - North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum and U.S. senators J.D. Vance and Marco Rubio - traveled to Atlanta and were expected to make Trump's case in the post-debate spin room.
The second and final debate in this year's campaign is scheduled for September. See a Reuters photo slide show of previous debates.
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