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Shock, not Excitement: Bidens Debate with Trump

by Dr. Hardy Ostry, Jan Bösche

U.S. press comments after the first televised debate of the presidential election campaign

Unusually early in the presidential election campaign, candidates Joe Biden and Donald Trump met for their first televised debate. Biden's team hoped the event would give his campaign a boost - but the opposite was the case. The debate was organized by CNN and will be followed by another debate in September, hosted by ABC News. What happened in the first debate has significantly increased the arc of suspense until September.

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Reactions and analysis

"Other presidents have stumbled in debates, but none quite like what happened to Biden on Thursday night," analyzes the Washington Post: "His overriding goal was to dispel doubts that he is too old and too frail to lead the country for another four years. Instead, he reinforced those doubts." The paper states, over the course of the evening, Biden's performance had improved, and he had won many substantive arguments - but first impressions count, and for Biden they were worse than many Democrats had feared, reports the Washington Post.

The full-length publication is only available in German.

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Contact

Dr. Hardy Ostry

Dr

Head of the Washington, D.C. office

hardy.ostry@kas.de

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