In the United States, the first presidential debate took place on Tuesday between President Donald Trump and his rival, Democratic candidate Joe Biden.
They took place in Cleveland, Ohio. They were moderated by Fox News presenter Chris Wallace. With him, Donald Trump entered into a skirmish in the first 15 minutes, constantly interrupting Biden and violating the regulations to which the headquarters of both candidates agreed.
The US president tried to credit Biden with support for the ultra-left agenda, which the former US vice president immediately rejected, made several unsuccessful attempts to piss off Biden by attacking his son, Hunter Biden, and also recalled Hillary Clinton several times. Biden pointed out to Trump that during his presidency, 200,000 Americans died from the coronavirus and another 7 million became infected, the economy was stopped, and protests and unrest broke out in American cities. Interrupting and trying to scream at the opponent from Trump’s side lasted all 90 minutes, and at some point, Biden, sighing, said to the opponent – will you shut up or not?
A number of American media outlets regard the first presidential candidates’ debates as something “not at all similar” to what they, according to the regulations, should be.
Joe Biden tried to earn extra points, fighting his way through the stream of Donald Trump’s exclamations, looking not at the interlocutor, but at the camera as salvation in the heat of this heated debate, not much like a competition of ideas, the New York Times writes.
How the debate will affect the future course of the race, continues the author of the publication, is still an open question, since studies say that approximately 90 percent of voters in elections act in accordance with how they have already decided. Trump put pressure on the opponent and on the presenter. The ex-vice-president’s speech was, on the whole, adequate, although he had to “swallow” some of his maxims, and his rival simply “blabbed” other of his statements, notes The New York Times.
The CBS News TV channel conducted a large study in which it was possible to interview those viewers who expressed a desire to watch the debates in advance and who then agreed to answer the questions. Thus, in a short time, it was possible to compile a representative selection of opinions, according to which: 69 percent of those who watched the talk shows felt irritated by what they saw; 19 percent felt pessimism, 31 percent of people were amused by it, and only 17 percent of the channel’s subscribers found it informative. According to the table shown on the TV screen, the attitude of viewers of the debate to Donald Trump after viewing practically did not change. With regard to Biden, an insignificant part of those who watched the show, these one and a half hours allowed to establish themselves in the positive qualities and intentions of the applicant for the post of head of state.
Following the televised debate, Business Insider notes a drop in business activity in the US domestic markets: the meeting of candidates in this, as observers note, “chaotic” television broadcast did not give investors confidence in future deals and prompted them to take measures to reduce business risks.