Contents
After the traditional CNN Presidential Debate held on June 27, 2024, everyone had the same question on their mind. It was a matter of curiosity whether Joe Biden would withdraw his candidacy or not. Because he paused from time to time during the debate and even had difficulty finishing some of his sentences. Although the current president’s campaign team stated that no withdrawal was on their agenda, this statement sparked fights even among Democrats rather than ending the debates.
Well, according to the polls conducted after the debate, Trump had a clear advantage over his opponent in this first live broadcast. According to the survey conducted by the independent polling company SSRS, approximately 70 percent of the participants believed that the Republican candidate, former President Trump, won this live CNN Presidential Debate, while only 30 percent claimed that Joe Biden won. In line with these facts, if you have even the slightest interest in the subject or international politics, you must have seen news about this debate on television or social media.
At this point, we should point out that those who are looking for an unbiased and independent source on this debate are having a bit of a hard time. In order to fill this gap, we evaluated the US CNN presidential debate 2024 in general from an impartial perspective. First of all, we need to point out that; This live broadcast, which normally takes place in September, 2 months before the election, took place in June this year. It is not yet clear whether a discussion that took place early with the joint approval of both parties will be repeated in September.
Presidential Debate Format 24
Before the debate itself, the issue of changing rules caused much public debate. CNN made some changes in this live presidential debate, which it traditionally holds in every presidential election, taking into account the bitter Trump-Biden experience in 2020. In the debate at that time, Donald Trump’s constant interruption of his opponent and not allowing him to speak was a hot topic.
For these and similar reasons, CNN took some precautions in this year. If we list these precautions and rule changes and their effects:
- While one candidate was speaking, the other was muted: Yes, it may seem a little strange, but in 2020, Trump constantly interrupted Biden and finally Joe said to him “Shut up!” The answer shocked everyone. In this year’s CNN Presidential Debate, in order to avoid such rudeness and fights, time was kept while one candidate was speaking and the other candidate’s microphone was muted during this time.
- There was no Opening Speech: The normal opening speech did not take place. It is generally said that this is for the purpose of saving time. Naturally, since there was no opening speech, both Biden and Trump answered more questions. Frankly, the live broadcast was more productive in this respect in 2024.
- Discussion Without an Audience: In previous years’ discussions, passionate audiences on both sides were making the atmosphere very lively with their reactions and applauding cheers. However, this year, CNN did not allow a live audience, a decision taken by agreement of both parties.
- Commercial ad break: Normally, in the CNN Presidential Debate concept, there would be no commercial break in order not to cause unfair competition. On the other hand, this year, CNN inserted commercials into the discussion and changed this rule.
Partisans!
The final thing to say about the changing rules is this; Everyone who is partisan and defends one of the two sides says that these rules have changed to the advantage of the other candidate. On the other hand, if we look at it objectively, these new rules have made the overall discussion more productive.
Joe Biden and CNN Debate Criteria
It should not be surprising that the supporters of these two, who started arguing without greeting each other or even shaking hands, became so fanatic. In this context, it is known that American politics and society have become extremely polarized in recent years.
Now let’s evaluate the discussion from each side’s perspective.
If we look at the live broadcast for the incumbent American President, the risks that existed for him before the debate have emerged again. That is, Joe Biden sometimes spoke slowly and slowly, sometimes he could not complete his sentences, and sometimes he expressed himself with meaningless words. In line with that he explained this situation as follows in his public speech a few days later: “Yes, I can’t argue as well as I used to. Yes, I can’t talk as fast as I used to. But I know very well what I am doing and how to tell the truth.”
On the other hand, he stated that he was not feeling well and had a cold on the day of the US CNN Presidential debate. It is clear that he, too, is aware that he is defeated in the debate. However, the president, who stated that he was the second youngest senator in the past and is currently the oldest presidential candidate, stated that he found it normal for both situations to be subject to criticism.
The prominent negativities for Biden in this debate are as:
- His age is a disadvantage.
- He received a lot of criticism: immigration policy and border security.
- The state of the economy and inflation was a matter of criticism for him.
- However, Donald accused him of not giving enough support to Israel’s Gaza attacks. This was important for deeply evangelical or religious Americans. Climate crisis topic was positive for him.
Trump’s Presidential Debate Win
In the face of Biden’s incredibly low performance, Donald Trump did not actually need to go above his standard performance to stand out in the discussion. In this regard, his opponent’s low performance was very beneficial to him. When the topic of mental and physical health came up, Trump highlighted the age issue by stating that he was successfully playing golf, which requires a healthy brain and physique. On the other hand, the former president, who stated that he had 2 full-fledged health tests, also managed to put the other party in a difficult situation on this issue.
However, Donald stated that the economy would have been much better if it had not been for the Covid-19 pandemic, and nevertheless argued that the economy was quite strong when he left. Apart from the economy, the former US president focused heavily on international politics and irregular immigration. Claiming that there was less war and conflict in the world during his time, Trump stated that he would end the Russia-Ukraine war if he took office.
In addition, he claimed that he would end the Gaza War with his full support for Israel and accused his rival Biden of weakening the USA in the international arena by supporting NATO and European Union. In this context, it should be noted that; While the candidate of the conservative Republican party represents more nationalism and the slogan of “America first”, the current president, the candidate of the more globalist Democrats, believes that the USA should be the guardian of the world by advocating “international cooperation” and trade.
Trump’s Problems
At this point, some of Trump’s issues that come to the fore in the debate are as follows:
- Conviction decision in the “Hush Money” case,
- The event that left a mark on the former president in the US CNN Presidential Debate was undoubtedly the allegations that he lied too much during the broadcast.
- The January 6 American Congress raid incident was one of the issues that was difficult to explain for him.
- In response to the CNN moderator’s question about whether he would accept the election results, he said: “If it is a fair election, I will accept it.” His response was another noteworthy factor.
- His relations with Putin and his visit to North Korea also indicate a negative situation for those who believe in democracy and moderate voters.
Will Biden Withdraw from Race?
As you can see below, Trump was ahead by nearly three percentage in The Economist’s poll published before CNN Presidential Debate. On the other hand, it is seen that this difference increased to six percent in the first surveys conducted after the publication. In addition to this information, according to the Wall Street Journal’s survey, eighty percent of voters find Joe Biden too old to serve as president. Moreover, only five percent of the voters who participated in the same survey stated that this live broadcast affected their decision to vote. For this reason, the current president’s close team and strict Democratic journalists think that Biden should never withdraw from the race.
They think that US voters generally want the current president to continue in office, and that the age issue will not prevent him from being elected. Besides such democrats, there are also Democrats who say that if this trend continues, they will lose the House of Representatives and the Senate, as well as the presidential race, and will suffer a heavy blow politically, and who think that Joe should withdraw. Actually, both sides, those who want withdrawal and those who do not, have their fair share. On the other hand, Vice President Kamala Harris stands out as the leading candidate of the Democrats and even some major pro-Democratic newspapers such as the New York Times and WSJ in the event of a possible withdrawal.
Months Until the Election!
By the way, let us note that the next day after the CNN Presidential Debate, the incumbent president held an open-air rally in North Carolina and performed quite well. In this regard, there are also CNN commentators who say that he should never be withdrawn and that such live broadcast discussions are not important at all. According to them, Joe Biden has great support in states such as Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, which are “Swing States” with volatile voting decisions, and this will be enough for him to win.
In light of all this information, it should be noted that it does not seem possible for a candidate to withdraw so close to the election. On the other hand, in the US system, the circle close team is as important as the president, and just because the president is old does not mean that his team is also old. So, in the November 5 US Presidential Election, we will probably be looking for an answer to the question of Trump vs Biden, and the possibility of another candidate coming to the fore is slim.
In this race, the fact that the current president is currently approximately 6 points behind shows Trump ahead in winning the election. He narrowly escaped the assassination that took place during Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania on July 13. In this assassination attempt, the attacker was killed. After this incident, it is seen that former President Trump’s vote rate in the polls increased and his probability of being elected president increased even more. But let’s not forget that in politics, where even 24 hours are important, everything can change in a few months.
