Major news outlets are asking President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump to publicly commit to multiple presidential debates. While Trump has said “any time any place,” Biden’s team hasn’t responded to the request. Biden has previously raised concerns over whether a debate could be conducted “fairly.”
The Commission on Presidential Debates has the first presidential debate slated for Sept. 16 with two more in October.
Biden has not publicly committed to any debates with Trump, but when asked by ABC News reporters, Biden said Trump wants to debate because he’s “got nothing else to do.” Biden said a debate would “depend on Trump’s behavior.”
Previous debates between the two in 2020 were at times unconventional, chaotic and not by the commission’s rules.
Trump is also calling for more debates and wants them to be earlier than September.
Trump said voting is beginning earlier and earlier, and in 2020, millions of Americans had already voted by the time of the first debate.
“President Trump has been very clear: He is willing to debate Joe Biden any time, any where, any place,” Trump’s campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in response to the media’s request. “We once again call on Joe Biden to commit to debates.”
“if there’s one thing Americans can agree on during this polarized time it’s that the stakes of this election are exceptionally high,” 12 news outlets, including ABC News, CNN, PBS NewsHour, USA Today and NewsNation, said in a joint letter to Trump and Biden.
Current reporting on the election foreshadows a tight race. Some polls show Biden with a lead over Trump and other polls show Trump with the advantage.
Debates could help some voters choose who will lead the country for the next four years.
“General election debates have a rich tradition in our American democracy, having played a vital role in every presidential election of the past 50 years, dating to 1976,” the organizations said the letter. “In each of those elections, tens of millions have tuned in to watch the candidates debating side by side, in a competition of ideas for the votes of American citizens.”
