This post is co-authored with POLINSIGHTS Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Felix Puig Seppalainen.
On the night of June 27, 2024, Americans tuned into CNN’s highly-anticipated first presidential debate. Many Americans came from that debate shocked and dismayed that the two candidates on stage were somehow their parties’ only choices for the presidency of the United States. It was 90 minutes of pure pain and misery.
My deputy editor Felix and I watched the debate as one of the first things we did when we landed in Taiwan on the morning of June 28th. We did not intend to write an article, but after watching that debacle we were compelled to do so quickly. What we compile in this article are our main takeaways from this debate.
Biden’s Performance
The President had previously poked fun at right-wing conspiracies that he would take some kind of performance-enhancing drugs before the debate. This type of performance did not materialize at the debate. Instead, it was a weak, muted and pathetic performance which did little to allay Democrats’ and voters’ concerns that Biden was too old to continue carrying on the job. The images of a confused-looking Biden fumbling his words produced memes and ridicule from many viewers.
Biden’s poor presentation skills were apparently the result of a “cold” as claimed by insider sources. Yet, on the next day, he produced an energetic speech which contrasted greatly to the performance he put on Thursday night. Why couldn’t Biden pull off that kind of performance at the debate, especially after a week-long debate prep at Camp David?
This debate read reminiscent of the 1960 debates, the first ones broadcasted ever on TV. When radio listeners were asked whether Republican nominee Richard Nixon or Democratic nominee John F. Kennedy the debate, more of them said Nixon. Yet, when it came to the TV debates, viewers preferred Kennedy over Nixon. Biden is the Nixon in this case. His answers had substance, but were garbled and poorly delivered. The American presidency has, for several decades now, demanded a strong TV performance to be successful.
Biden did not deliver that strong performance. At the end of a tangent on Trump tax cuts, he confusingly ended his statement with “We finally beat Medicare,” allowing his opponent to go on the offensive. In another instance, when talking about abortion rights (a subject which should have been a home run for Biden considering voters concerned about reproductive rights overwhelmingly favor him and the Democrats), Biden pivoted to girls being killed by illegal migrants, one of his weakest issues.
While he got livelier over the course of the debate, the bottom line is that Biden failed to deliver at this debate, and that if he expects to continue running for President and get re-elected, he needs to deliver better performances before millions of American viewers. His performance can be summarized by Trump’s response to one of Biden’s talking points on border security: “I really don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence. I don’t think he knows what he said either.”
Trump’s Performance
It cannot be disputed that Trump delivered a way better performance than his Democratic opponent. However, this performance was marked by constant lying and deflection. When asked about the January 6th attack on the Capitol in 2021, he deflected and attacked Biden on an unrelated topic. He said without evidence that then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi refused his offer for the National Guard troops to intervene on January 6th. He claimed his administration had the “best environmental numbers”, which frankly does not mean anything. CNN’s moderators did not attempt to follow up on any of these claims.
Several Republican TV pundits had warned the ex-President not to talk about topics that would alienate swing state voters, such as election denial and prosecuting political opponents. Trump did both of those, refusing to commit to accept the 2024 election results and refusing to back down from his previous statements to prosecute members of the January 6th committee, a short-lived congressional committee that investigated the January 6th attack on the Capitol. This gave Biden an opening to attack him.
Nevertheless, despite the lying and non-answers, Trump was clearly the winner of this debate. His confidence and ability to speak straight clearly helped him in this regard. This is supported by the fact that a CNN poll after the debate saw 67% of viewers say that Trump won the debate.
Petty Bickering
The debate was also characterized by petty and very personal attacks. Biden highlighted Trump’s criminal convictions, while Trump attacked the President’s son Hunter, who himself had been convicted recently, and suggested Joe Biden could be prosecuted after he leaves office.
Biden brought up Trump’s alleged affair with porn star Stormy Daniels and accused him of having sex with her while Trump’s wife Melania had been pregnant – charges that Trump denied.
In perhaps Biden’s strongest moment, Biden slammed the ex-President for Trump’s reported comments he had made in 2018. Trump had reportedly declined to go to a U.S. military cemetery in France because the veterans were “suckers” and “losers”. Biden, whose son Beau Biden had served in the military and arguably died because of it, called Trump a “sucker” and a “loser”.
At one point during a discussion of the Israel-Palestine issue, Trump slammed Biden as a “bad and weak Palestinian” and said that “Israel should finish the job” in Gaza, alienating pro-Palestinian supporters, some of whom had suggested Trump would be better on Palestine.
Both candidates even devolved into a seemingly pointless argument about who played better golf, during a question about whether age would affect their competency to be President.
Overall, this first debate was far better than the garbage dump that was the first 2020 debate, but it was still characterized by immature fighting.
The Conclusion
A poll conducted by CNN found that 81% of viewers who watched the debate said that the debate did not change their mind. A conclusion can be made that the debate may be inconsequential to the election in November. After all, most people have decided on who they were going to vote for her anyway.
However, the debate spells a warning for the Biden campaign. Continuing on the trajectory of appearing frail and weak will not help the President in his re-election effort. Indeed, many prominent voices called for Biden to exit the race post-debate, including the New York Times editorial board. It can be fully expected that Biden’s polling numbers, which had been improving slightly since Trump’s conviction in May, will take a hit.
Finally, it can be concluded that many Americans are disappointed with the choices they face this election. Both Trump and Biden are historically unpopular Presidents. It can reasonably be said that many Americans desire an alternative. The 2024 matchup appears destined to be a long and miserable campaign for all sides of the American electorate.
Emil Ordonez, a rising college freshman, is the founder and editor-in-chief of Polinsights. He has been deeply passionate about politics and history since learning every U.S. President at the age of five. He was compelled to start this blog after meeting many people who were misinformed or had become apathetic about how society worked. He hopes to provide factual knowledge and insights that will encourage people, especially the young, to get more engaged in their respective communities. In his free time, he edits for Wikipedia and makes maps for elections. He aspires to work in Congress or even the White House in the future.
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