Must-watch cringe TV: Few swing state voters want to see Trump-Biden debate
WASHINGTON - It's time for some must-watch cringe primetime TV.
That's the biggest takeaway from USA TODAY Network interviews with a series of swing state voters from around the country who are bracing for little new information in Thursday night's first presidential debate of 2024 but still say they want to see how the two oldest major party candidates for the American presidency stack up.
Tonight’s debate, occurring far earlier in election season than normal and with different debate rules, is one of the few opportunities the public will have before Election Day to view the candidates side-by-side for an extended period of time. Voters will be able to judge for themselves not just their political positions, but each man’s vitality and mental acuity.
Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, who turned 78 earlier this month, and President Joe Biden, an 81-year-old Democrat, will be standing in an otherwise-empty room at CNN studios in Atlanta, interrogated by two CNN anchors – Jake Tapper and Dana Bash. Their microphones will be muted unless it is their turn to speak.
Biden and Trump are competing for a minuscule portion of the electorate – people who haven’t made up their minds about two people who have served as back-to-back presidents and have been in the public eye for decades. For the candidates, this is a rematch of their disastrous first debate in 2020, which was marked by bitterness and anger as the candidates constantly spoke over one another during the national lockdown for the COVID-19 pandemic. Even Thursday night's moderators called that debate a "hot mess."
Cringeworthy or not, the debate is expected to be among the most-watched television events of the year. In 2020, the first debate between Biden and Trump drew 73.1 million viewers. And this being 2024, those who miss it will have ample opportunity to find clips on their smart phones, social media and cable news for weeks.
Why bother watching?
Voters from five of the primary 2024 swing states - Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin - said in interviews leading up to the debate that they want to hear Trump and Biden talk about concrete policies on housing, immigration, LGBTQ issues and infrastructure. But they also they don't expect enough depth in the exchanges to help pick a president. “I don't think it's so much as making up my mind, it's more if I can fit it in my schedule when it comes by while I'm channel surfing,” Brooke Hoch from the Milwaukee area said. “I'm ready for it to be over.”
In Atlanta, Stacy Wallace, a 49-year-old business analyst, said he plans to watch the debate, likely at home with a beer. He views the debate as a way of staying informed, but doesn’t feel much excitement about Biden and Trump’s face off.
“To be perfectly honest, I think it’s going to be a s*** show,” he said. “But it’s probably going to be entertaining.”
The entertainment factor is a key part of why he’s watching: Wallace said he found the 2020 debates “cringey” and doesn’t expect this year’s debate to have much sway over the decision he said he has already made.
Gerard Gilboe of Michigan said he will "reluctantly" watch the debate, "not because I expect to learn anything new about the positions of the candidates, but mostly because I think it will be like a train wreck or an auto accident that you can’t look away from."
Melissa Bloomfield, a 43-year-old Atlanta PR professional, said she doesn't plan to watch the debate this year, and didn’t watch them in 2020 either.
“It’s just going to be so infuriating, and I can’t stand to watch Donald Trump on TV or anywhere,” she said. “There's nothing that either of them are going to say that's gonna change my mind at this point.”
Phoenix resident Alex Brown said he's already made up his mind and doesn't plan to watch the debate.
“I really don’t want to watch two old guys going at it,” Brown said.
RJ Danforth, a 19-year-old Scottsdale, Ariz., resident, said he wishes there were different, younger candidates on stage. He said he expects to vote for Biden.
“I'm probably going to have it on in the background. So I'll pay attention, but in the corner of my mind,” Danforth said.
Some doubt there remain many voters who haven’t made up their minds at this point. Bob Gutowski – another Michigan voter – said “if someone doesn’t know the difference between bizarro Trump and Biden, then they must be living under a rock.”
How will they act?
Brianna Schwarcz, 30, of Royal Oak, Mich., who leans Democratic, wants to know where Biden and Trump stand on the issues and if they have details. But she will also look at if they can communicate their positions rather than just yell over each other.
“Are they speaking eloquently and respectfully and confidently or are they just throwing insults and acting immature?” she said.
Eric Wolfe from Oshkosh, Wis., said he was leaning toward Robert Kennedy Jr., the independent candidate running against Trump and Biden who didn’t qualify for CNN’s presidential debate. But in the end, Wolfe said, he would probably vote for Biden in November due to Kennedy’s slim chances and wanted to watch the debate to evaluate the incumbent president's demeanor.“I really want to see how Joe Biden holds it together, like is Trump going to antagonize him? How is he going to react? Is he going to get frustrated?” Wolfe said.
Deb Spilko, a 71-year-old Democrat from Erie County, Pa., said she expects few surprises from Biden.
The president will be "measured and knowledgeable in his remarks," and perhaps commit a gaffe or two, said Spilko, who has voted in every presidential election since turning 18 in 1972.
Biden, however, proved during his State of the Union address in March that he has "stamina and a clear mind" for the job and the debate could give him a chance to win over some doubtful voters if he can replicate that performance, she said.
As for Trump, Spilko said she doubts the former president will do anything different from past debates.
"The only thing that would surprise me with him is if he arrived prepared, knowledgeable, coherent and in control of his behavior," she said. "He has shredded every other norm, and I fully expect that the debate will be in keeping with that destructive pattern."
Tom Eddy, the chairman of the Erie County Republican Party, said he thinks Biden and Trump could walk away from the debate without having changed the race in any significant way.
More is on the line for Biden, though, said the GOP chairman, who went as far as suggesting that the timing of the debate, held before the conventions, gives Democrats time to replace Biden if he performs poorly.
At age 81, Biden has the advantage of low expectations, as he did ahead of the State of the Union, Eddy said. He'll need to replicate that performance to prove he's capable of serving another four years, Eddy said.
"It's critical for him to show he's physically capable," Eddy said. "My gut feeling is this is really an audition for Biden more than anything else."
Even though Trump isn't far behind Biden in age, Eddy said the former president remains energetic, pointing to Trump's 90-minute speech at the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority conference in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, which Eddy attended.
He hopes Trump uses the debate stage to lay out a vision for the next four years, especially when it comes to the economy, energy policy and immigrations. But he wants the former president to avoid talking about the 2020 election and ignore Biden's attacks on Trump's character.
"You can almost bet he's going to bring up the fact that (Trump) was convicted of a felony," Eddy said, referring to the 34 felony convictions following the recent hush money trial. "The way they've got this whole thing structured, in a way, is to prevent Trump from countering some of that because his mic's going to be turned off."
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Swing state voters aren't excited to hear from Trump or Biden
