After the two oldest candidates in the history of presidential politics in the United States took place on June 27th, many Americans are wondering when the next Presidential Debate is scheduled. The next debate is scheduled for September 10, 2024, however, many questions still remain about whether this debate will happen at all, or even if President Biden will drop out of the race before then and anoint another candidate as successor.

President Biden did not do well according to most polls. According to an Ipsos poll by project 538, Trump performed about average for what was expected of him and Biden performed poorly. Biden has stated that he believes he is the only Democratic candidate who has a chance at unifying the Democratic Party enough to defeat former President Trump in the general election. Many top Democratic officials rallied to the President’s side after the lackluster performance including former President Barack Obama.

“Bad debate nights happen. Trust me, I know. But this election is still a choice between someone who has fought for ordinary folks his entire life and someone who only cares about himself,” Obama said in a post on X, linking to Biden’s campaign website. “Last night didn’t change that, and it’s why so much is at stake in November”

Barack Obama

Biden Falling Behind in Key Battleground State Polls

Biden has been trailing in many polls taken in key battleground states that play an outsized roll in American politics due to the electoral college system that is used. In recent times, Republicans have lost the popular vote and still won the Presidency twice. If the trend holds, Trump will likely win the Presidency.

Biden had welcomed the the first Presidential Debate of 2024 because the conditions of the debate were viewed as favorable to him. There was no live audience and muted mics during responses to give candidates mental space to focus on answering their questions.

Maybe Not Such a Great Idea

Trump came out on the attack as one would expect. Biden fired back some responses, but then seemed to completely lose his train of thought. One time was particularly embarrassing for the President. Towards the end of the response, Biden looked down, mumbled for about five seconds, stopped talking all together and said we were finally go to “beat Medicare”. The original question was about how the national debt would be dealt with by Biden. In fairness, he made some decent points about Trump having the largest deficit of all time and the need to tax billionaires, but completely fumbled at the end.

To make matters worse for Biden, this was in the early parts of the debate. Biden and his surrogates have been trying to fend off criticisms that Biden is simply too old to do be the head of state for the United States. Now the Biden campaign has to decide whether they want to have more debates. It is a difficult decision because on the one hand it could prove that Biden just had a bad day, or strengthen the criticisms against him, depending on the outcome. Typically, there are at least three Presidential debates per election cycle.

Biden’s Sworded History as a Debater

Biden has never been known as a fantastic debater. He has famously struggled with a stutter since an early age and been a fantastic advocate for young people with speech impediments, but as the leader of the free world, communicating effectively is an incredibly important aspect of the job and the debate showcased that this issue seems to be getting worse for the 81 year old Biden.

In the 2020 debates, Biden won by letting Trump show how belligerent and nasty he could be. This was a major turnoff to voters and may have lead to him winning the election. The muted microphones and lack of a studio audience may have actually hurt Biden in this regard. Biden had not made any public appearances for seven days prior to the debate because he was at a “family retreat” at Camp David. Given the President’s patchy mental cohesion and strange hoarseness of his voice, Americans are left to wonder if they are being told the truth about their 81 year old President’s health.

Will Biden Drop Out of the Presidential Race?

Biden has stated vehemently that despite his poor debate performance, he will not be dropping out of the race. Many Democrats are concerned about Biden after the poor debate performance. Biden would have to drop out of the race for a new candidate to take his place. Since the primaries are over, there is no set way to select someone to replace him on the ballot, which would likely lead to chaos and infighting with the Democratic Party.

“I don’t know what he {Biden} said there, I don’t think he knows either.”

–Donald Trump

Possibly replacements would be Kamala Harris the current vice-President, Gavin Newsome the current California governor, J.B. Pritzker current governor of Illinois, Gretchen Whitmer the current governor of Michigan, and Sherrod Brown one of Ohio’s current senators. If Biden were to step down, how would the party determine who would be the candidate?

It would come down to the “electors” in the party. Electors are individuals of prominence within the party typically that throw their support behind whoever wins the primaries in their states, although they are not bound to this stance. They can technically support whomever they would like. Will one of them end up being the Democratic nominee? Only time will tell….

In Summation

Thanks for reading The Lifelong Learning and Education Blog! I hope you have enjoyed my take on the first Presidential Debate of 2024 in the U.S. I try to be as unbiased as possible and give all voices to create a narrative of substance. If you have some thoughts you would like to share related to this issue, please feel free to do so in a respectful and civil manner.

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• Work a Low Wage Job for a Day….Day
• Is 3I Atlas an Alien Probe or a Comet?
• Embracing Your Inner Child: The Joy of Being Kid at Heart
• Panda’s Three Wishes
• Intrinsic vs Extrinsic Learning