The United States are just a matter of months away from one of their biggest presidential elections in years. The country is currently fighting against the global coronavirus pandemic, which has killed roughly 189,000 Americans. The US is currently the most infected country in the world with over 6.3 million cases, whilst the Black Lives Matter movement continues to sweep across the states, as well.
Donald Trump’s handling of both has been criticised, and as a result he has fallen behind Democratic rival Joe Biden, not just in the polls, but also in the odds on the next US president. Former Vice-President Biden, who leads in the majority of the battleground states, including Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin – all of which Trump won in 2016 – is currently the favourite at 5/6, whilst Trump is evens for a further four years in office.
Whilst Trump is behind in almost every aspect, with just under two months to go, the upcoming debates could be his saving grace. There will be three head-to-head debates between now and the ballot, which will take place on November 3rd. These debates are a key factor in the voting, and the first will take place in Cleveland, Ohio on September 29th, with the other two taking place in Miami, Florida and Nashville, Tennessee throughout October.
The televised debates haven’t even started yet and already the pair are clashing heads. Biden has asked that Trump’s facts get checked in real time, whilst the Head of State has hit back, claiming that he wants Barrack Obama’s former right-hand man to take a drugs test before the debates, to prove that he isn’t taking performance enhancements.
Trump ‘won’ the two virtual conventions, with his speech outside the White House going down better than the Democrat’s speeches from Hilary Clinton and Obama, and the majority of American’s believe Trump, who closed the gap in the betting massively during the conventions, will win the debates – despite Biden being the bookies’ favourite.
Worryingly for Trump, and his supporters, Fox News’ Chris Wallace will moderate the first debate in Cleveland. Wallace has repeatedly fact checked, and grilled, the president in the past, and this is probably part of the reason why Biden is the favourite with the bookies.
But what are the people saying ahead of the debates? Curtis Saffi, an independent from Georgia, who plans to vote in favour of Biden, believes “Trump is going to run all over Biden” in the debates, whilst New Jersey-based democrat Dana Carbonell claimed the ex-Vice-President will win, as long as he “does a good job of fact checking Trump.”
Carbonell’s view is shared with 79% of her party, who believe their presidential nominee will come out on top, whilst a larger percentage (87%) of Republicans have shown faith in Trump to win the debates.
Voters have made it clear in the past that the debates have had an impact in who they vote for, so should Trump beat his Democratic counterpart, then tides might just begin to turn in his favour!
