Tonight on September 29th, 2020 there will be the first of three Presidential debates of this election. The Showdown is between current President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden. Both Trump and Biden have agreed to participate in these debates. According to Seth Cohen, a contributor to Forbes Magazine, there are a few reasons as to why Joe Biden should not debate President Trump. And when you place the history of Presidential debates with these reasons it teaches us why some Presidents decided to go certain routes and whether it was effective, and if Presidential debates are important to us as citizens. The first of Seth Cohen’s reasons is that Joe Biden has almost nothing to gain. Biden is leading in almost all of the polls with a significant advantage. Another of Cohen’s reasons is that the debates would inevitably be a spectacle over substance. His meaning is that the debate would be centered around Trump showing the bad aspects of the other candidate rather than showing why he is the right choice for re-election. Now if the history of Presidential debates shows us anything it is that there are a lot of consequences that come along with debating.
As we dive back into the history of debates we should begin with the Kennedy and Nixon debate in 1960 that completely changed politics. Going into this election former Vice President Nixon had been favorite to win. He served under President Eisenhower for eight years and had a lot of support. But when it came to a broadcasted debate, Nixon would lose this advantage. Before the debate Nixon had faced a knee injury and appeared to look very ill. Before the debate would begin Nixon refused to wear any makeup when offered it. Kennedy on the other hand was tanned from being on the campaign trail and used makeup right before the cameras went on. This led to Kennedy looking good for the cameras and Nixon looking weak and nervous. Why this matters is because before the debate Nixon was up by six percent in national polls, and after the debate Kennedy became the favorite to win. This connects to Cohen’s points that the Presidential debate will be more about spectacle and that there is nothing to gain from it for Biden. For one, Joe Biden has the lead just like Nixon did, why allow appearance to ruin it for you?
On the other hand, there is the consequences of not debating. Would not debating do some harm? It might, but there is evidence from a few important elections as to where it didn’t do harm. In the 1968 Presidential race against Nixon and Humphrey and the 1972 race against Nixon and Mcgovern, Richard Nixon refused to debate. Learning from his mistakes Nixon decided to keep his lead in the polls and not risk the chance of losing by appearing weak in the debate. As we know he won both of these elections. McGovern urged Nixon to debate him and suggested that Nixon was weak on national security and that is why he did not want to debate. This replicates what Trump is doing with urging Biden to debate and suggesting he is weak if he does not show. Of course Biden has accepted the invitation to the debate, but is he making a mistake? This is important as young people should take into account the results of what has happened in the past surrounding debates, and think whether it really is the best move for Biden to debate Trump. In 1968 and 1972, a Presidential debate was not important to citizens. Is it important to us now?
Seth Cohen. (2020). Forget Joe Rogan, there are 3 reasons why Joe Biden shouldn’t Debate Trump- At All. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/sethcohen/2020/09/14/forget-joe-rogan-there-are-3-reasons-why-joe-biden-shouldnt-debate-trump/#6112c41843ec
NCC Staff. (2017). How the Kennedy-Nixon debate changed the World of Politics. Constitutioncenter.org. https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/the-debate-that-changed-the-world-of-politics
Bill Kovach. (1972). The 1972 Campaign. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/1972/10/04/archives/gop-switches-tv-campaign-to-attack-on-mcgovern.html
Hi Carter,
What a fascinating post! After discussing this briefly in class, I still am not too sure how much a debate would have mattered. I believe most people have made up their minds on who they will be voting for, but I’m curious to see how the other debates influence the polls. After watching snippets of both the first presidential debate and the vice presidential debate from last night, it appears that our “debates” have become a laughing stock in this country. With the endless tik toks of Trump and Biden’s bickering and the only take away from last night’s showdown being the fly on Pence’s head, we can surely understand how dramatically things have changed since the Nixon-Kennedy debate. What once was a question of appearance is now a question of poor behavior in our electorate system. Overall, this was a great read and I think you can use this blog to compare and contrast our many presidential elections-only if you have the patience to do so of course!
Hi Carter,
I think that this is an interesting perspective in regards to presidential debates. I wasn’t even aware that you had the option to not participate in the debates. I always assumed that it was just a norm that the nominees participated in. Having read this article I began thinking about how much the debates actually sway people as you mentioned. Had Biden not participated in the debate I don’t know if it would have changed his numbers much. Weeks after the first debate and having the last presidential debate just this week, I don’t think that many people have changed their minds. Of course I can’t speak for everyone but people in my social circle definitely had their minds made up before the debates which is why I don’t know if Biden’s numbers would change much after them. Perhaps he thought his numbers would actually improve to demonstrate the difference between him and Trump. Either way this was an interesting angle that I never considered before. It’s especially fascinating to see the stark difference between the respectable organization of past debates compared to the chaotic and disorganized mess that we often see in present day debates.
Best,
Kailey G