Poll: Voters Want More Presidential Debates than Biden Is Agreeing To

FILE - In this Sept. 29, 2020, photo, from left, first lady Melania Trump, President Donal
AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File
Hannah Knudsen

Voters want more presidential debates than President Joe Biden is agreeing to, May’s Havard-Harris survey found.

The Biden campaign made it clear on Wednesday in a letter that he is not debating former President Donald Trump more than he has to, informing the Commission on Presidential Debates that he “will not be participating in the Commission on Presidential Debates’ announced debates in 2024 and plans to participate in debates hosted by news organizations.” The letter added that Biden has agreed to just two debates.

But most voters, 73 percent, believe Trump and Biden should “stick to the 3 presidential debates and 1 vice presidential debate historically organized by the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates, and moderated by various media partners.” Just 27 percent said the two should try to negotiate their own terms for debates.

WATCH — Maher: Biden Would Have Avoided Debates if He Was Winning, Trump Wouldn’t Avoid Them:

There is a consensus across the board as well, as 79 percent of Democrats, 69 percent of Republicans, and 73 percent of independents believe candidates should stick with the terms laid out by the Commission on Presidential Debates — something Biden has already said he will not do.

Further, 63 percent said debates will “provide valuable information to voters on who to pick in 2024,” and 65 percent of Democrats, 64 percent of Republicans, and 59 percent of independents agree.

The overall survey was taken May 15-16, among 1,660 registered voters. It has a +/- 2 percent margin of error. It comes on the heels of the Trump campaign demanding more debates from Biden, proposing debates in June, July, August, and September.

Former President Donald Trump speaks to guests at a rally on April 2, 2024, in Green Bay, Wisconsin. (Scott Olson/Getty)

“But we believe there should be more than just two opportunities for the American people to hear more from the candidates themselves,” a memo from the Trump campaign reads.

“With the soaring inflation of Bidenomics costing America’s hardworking families at the grocery store and at the gas pump, with our border being totally overrun, with chaos at home, chaos across the world, chaos on our college campuses, we should have one debate per month,” the memo continues. “Therefore, we propose a debate in June, a debate in July, a debate in August, and a debate in September, in addition to the Vice Presidential debate.”

“Additional dates will allow voters to have maximum exposure to the records and future visions of each candidate,” they added, emphasizing their belief that the “American people deserve more than what the Biden administration has to offer.”

The Biden campaign, however, has remained resistant, even demanding a ban on debate audiences, contending that “building high spectacles with large audiences at great expense simply isn’t necessary or conducive to good debates.” This demand further fed the ongoing narrative that Biden is hiding.

The Biden campaign wrote in part:

The debates should be conducted for the benefit of the American voters, watching on television and at home – not as entertainment for an in-person audience with raucous or disruptive partisans and donors, who consume valuable debate time with noisy spectacles of approval or jeering.

As was the case with the original televised debates in 1960, a television studio with just the candidates and moderators is a better, more cost-effective way to proceed: focused solely on the interests of voters.

That comes on the heels of Biden proposing a debates in June and September.

In a Truth Social post amid the back and forth, Trump described Biden as the “WORST debater I have ever faced.”

“He can’t put two sentences together! Crooked is also the WORST President in the history of the United States, by far,” he wrote.

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