PD Editorial: Debates are a tradition worth saving

Let the debate over presidential debates begin.

Asked Friday by radio host Howard Stern if he would debate Donald Trump this fall, President Joe Biden replied, “I am, somewhere. I don’t know when. But I’m happy to debate him.”

Biden had been noncommittal, saying recently his participation would depend on Trump’s behavior. Trump, who refused to debate his Republican primary opponents this year and backed out of one of three presidential debates scheduled in 2020, has been pressing Biden to debate.

Uncertainty about Biden’s intentions, coupled with the Republican National Committee’s withdrawal from the Commission on Presidential Debates, created some uncertainty about any meeting between the major party candidates this year. Earlier this month, a group of large news organizations issued a public statement urging the candidates to commit to debates.

The first hurdle seemingly is now cleared. Biden and Trump say they’re in. If recent history is any guide, there’s plenty of squabbling yet to come about when, where and how many times to debate, the format, the presence of rooting sections, whether to include fringe candidates, and more. But that’s mostly background noise. Feel free to tune it out.

But debates, a staple of every presidential election since 1976, shouldn’t drop off the campaign calendar. Barring a major gaffe, debate performances, good or bad, probably won’t determine the outcome of the election. And it’s true that presidential debates all too often are dominated by preplanned zingers.

Nevertheless, with campaigns relentlessly trying to control the message, debates are just about the only time that voters get to see candidates in an unscripted setting where an unanticipated question might require them to think on their feet.

Presidential debates also are one of the increasingly rare times when a large audience watches something other than the Super Bowl. In 2020, the two Biden-Trump debates drew an average of 68 million people. They were eager to hear from the candidates, and maybe that contributed to the voter turnout record set in 2020.

Courtrooms aside, Trump usually sticks to friendly audiences at his rallies and interviewers who won’t ask probing questions. In a debate setting, he can be pressed to elaborate on his dictator for a day plans, pledges of mass deportation, elimination of civil service protection and sweeping tariffs.

Biden also has avoided interviews with independent journalists and rarely hosts news conferences. A debate would afford an opportunity to ask him about the results of his administration’s economic and immigration policies and his plans for keeping the national debt from spiraling.

Moreover, a 60- or 90-minute debate would give voters concerned about an octogenarian in the White House an opportunity to assess the energy and fitness of Biden and Trump, the oldest men ever to serve as president.

Despite the uncertainty, the nonpartisan commission that has sponsored debates since 1988 has pushed forward with planning for 2024. The panel is prepared to host three presidential debates and one vice presidential debate between Sept. 16 and Oct. 9. The candidates should accept, work out their differences, and keep this American electoral tradition alive.

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