We want a better dialogue. We want an honest conversation. After months of posturing and squabbling between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, we want decisiveness. Can the first presidential debate deliver that?
The planned September 26 debate holds tremendous weight for both candidates. Clinton experienced a strong post-convention bump in the polls after the Democratic Convention. She maintained that lead for almost a month before Trump started to eat away at her credibility again. In mid-July, Trump’s chances of winning the general election were down to single digits. Now, he’s back to being a major contender. Statistician Nate Silver predicts Trump has a 31.2% chance of claiming victory in November. That’s a double digit jump in the odds in less than a month’s time.
A strong performance in the debate could help Trump seal the deal on a historic comeback. For Clinton, this could be an opportunity to prove once and for all why she’s more qualified to do the job.
The Debate Could Be A Rebound From NBC’s Forum
Our first glimpse at a potentially productive conversation came in the form of NBC’s Thursday night forum. Those results weren’t promising. Matt Lauer, co-host of the TODAY show, played up controversy without comprehensive follow up questions. Trump stayed calm and collected thanks to arguably lighter questions than what he typically receives. Lauer had the chance to fact check Trump on issues, such as Trump’s support for the Iraq War, he fumbled.
With Clinton, he grilled her about her use of a private email server. She was visibly frustrated and stayed on the defensive for most of the night. Overall, the forum wasn’t a great showing for either candidate. CNN took a deep dive into learnings about both potential leaders as did the New York Times. Viewers who tuned in walked away with no new information or impressions of either politician.
First Debate Needs New Challenges
At this point, the narratives of Trump and Clinton are overly familiar. Among the undecided, Clinton is battling an unsavory public image comprised of negligence, untrustworthiness, and lack of personality. Trump is battling his lack of experience, knowledge and knack for controversial statements.
To me, Hillary has been held accountable for her actions and policies. She has been been grilled time and time again by congressional investigations as well as by reporters and during the Democratic debates. She answers questions.
Trump has not been accountable. He has avoided hard questions, sometimes even treating them as attacks. While this doesn’t seem to matter to his followers, it might make a difference with the undecided.
In order for this debate to achieve something useful for voters, new territory needs to be explored. Both candidates need to be challenged on policy. More decisive for voters, however, will be how they deal with the ultimate opposition: each other.