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TIME
  • 10/28/2024
Presidential debates have been a staple of campaigns for decades, and history has shown that they can have the power to sway undecided voters and solidify public perception of the candidates.
Transcript
00:00Presidential debates have been a staple of campaigns for decades, and history has shown
00:04that they can have the power to sway undecided voters and solidify public perception of the
00:10candidates.
00:11In 2024, it was a debate that arguably changed the course of the campaign completely.
00:17President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump met on stage in Atlanta on June 27 for
00:22the first presidential debate of the 2024 election, which may have ultimately led to
00:27Biden ending his bid for re-election.
00:29Thoughts were shaken when the 81-year-old stumbled his way through the debate, mixing
00:33up names and figures, losing his train of thought, failing to parry back against Trump's
00:38lies, and struggling to describe his own accomplishments and vision for a second term.
00:44The total initiative relative to what we're going to do with more border patrol and more
00:49asylum officers.
00:50President Trump?
00:51I really don't know what he said at the end of that sentence.
00:54I don't think he knows what he said either.
00:56His disastrous debate performance spurred a dramatic revolt within his own party in
01:00the weeks that followed, with top Democrats calling for Biden to step aside.
01:05Biden dropped out of the race on July 21 and endorsed his Vice President Kamala Harris
01:09to take his place.
01:10I made my choice.
01:11I made my views known.
01:15Let's look back at some of the other debates in history that have also moved the needle.
01:21The 1960 debate between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon.
01:25The first debate between Kennedy and Nixon is considered one of the most significant
01:28because it entrenched the idea that appearances are an important part of presidential campaigns.
01:33The debate is also considered the first nationally televised presidential debate in history.
01:38The best-known narrative about the debate is that then-Vice President Nixon lost the
01:43election because he looked old and tired during the debate, while Kennedy, then a senator
01:48from Massachusetts, wore makeup and appeared young and vibrant.
01:53People who watched the debate on television generally believed that Kennedy had won the
01:57debate, but those who listened to their speeches on the radio believed that Nixon had performed
02:02better.
02:03Now, some historians argue this explanation doesn't hold up because of different demographics
02:07between TV viewers and radio listeners, and we have very little empirical research to
02:12suggest that's why Kennedy won the election.
02:16The 1976 debate between Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford.
02:21After the Nixon-Kennedy election, a long period passed without any general election debates
02:26until President Gerald Ford fell behind during the 1976 campaign and decided he needed to
02:32debate then-Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter.
02:35The debates are best remembered for a single moment during the pair's second debate.
02:39There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe, and there never will be under a Ford administration.
02:48Did I understand you to say, sir, that the Russians are not using Eastern Europe as their
02:52own sphere of influence and occupying?
02:55Historians argue that the moment was particularly damaging for Ford because of the media reporting
02:59after the debate, which contributed to the narrative that he was clumsy and not up for
03:04the presidency.
03:07The 1980 debate between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.
03:10For most of the 1980 campaign cycle, Jimmy Carter had been unwilling to debate Ronald
03:15Reagan, who was considered a master of visuals and humor.
03:19But Carter changed his mind about 10 days before the election after realizing that he
03:24was trailing in the polls and needed a last-minute pitch to undecided voters.
03:29Carter peppered his rhetoric with facts and policy, and Reagan countered with one-line
03:33catchphrases.
03:35Are you better off than you were four years ago?
03:39Governor, there you go again.
03:43Historians argue that Reagan went on to win the election one week later, in part because
03:48he came across as very confident and amiable in that debate.
03:52The 1992 debate between George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Ross Perot.
03:58Unlike most other presidential debates where candidates respond to moderator questions,
04:02the second debate in 1992 was conducted in a more relaxed town hall format suggested
04:08by Bill Clinton's campaign.
04:10The format was seen as benefiting Clinton, who voters thought seemed more likable than
04:15his opponents over the course of three debates.
04:17In one famous moment during the second debate, President Bush was caught on camera looking
04:21at his watch as a voter in Richmond, Virginia asked a question about the national debt,
04:27giving viewers the sense he was being passive or bored.
04:30The debates also introduced the public to third-party candidate Ross Perot, who garnered
04:35almost 19% of the vote.
04:37Recent polls suggested that Perot took votes from Clinton and Bush about equally.
04:43The 2000 debate between George W. Bush and Al Gore.
04:48The debates were particularly important in the 2000 election.
04:52Vice President Al Gore had been in high-profile debates before, whereas Texas Governor George
04:57Bush was a relative newcomer known to stumble over his words.
05:02During the first debate, microphones caught Gore loudly sighing in response to Bush's
05:06answers.
05:07In the state of Texas, that's what a governor gets to do.
05:10At the third debate, Gore walked up to Bush as he was speaking, seemingly to intimidate
05:14him.
05:15Bush smirked and continued on, but the moment prompted the audience to laugh.
05:21Time wrote in 2000,
05:22The pundits and the polls agreed Gore had won the debate.
05:27Then he lost.
05:29Within a week, Bush had opened up a lead in several polls, as voters apparently decided
05:34they were tired of Professor Know-It-All.
05:36In 2024, following his debate with Biden, Republican candidate Donald Trump went on
05:41to debate Vice President Kamala Harris just once.
05:44The race remained deadlocked, and it likely will not go down in the history books as a
05:48debate that moved the needle.

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