{"id":9806,"date":"2024-06-21T10:50:07","date_gmt":"2024-06-21T14:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/5-facts-about-presidential-and-vice-presidential-debates\/"},"modified":"2025-02-10T18:15:39","modified_gmt":"2025-02-10T23:15:39","slug":"6-facts-about-presidential-and-vice-presidential-debates","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2024\/06\/21\/6-facts-about-presidential-and-vice-presidential-debates\/","title":{"rendered":"6 facts about presidential and vice presidential debates"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-640-wide\"><img data-dominant-color=\"100e19\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" style=\"--dominant-color: #100e19;\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2024\/06\/SR_24.06.20_Debates_feature.jpg?resize=480,270 480w, https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2024\/06\/SR_24.06.20_Debates_feature.jpg?resize=782,440 782w, https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2024\/06\/SR_24.06.20_Debates_feature.jpg?resize=960,540 960w, https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2024\/06\/SR_24.06.20_Debates_feature.jpg?resize=1200,675 1200w, https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2024\/06\/SR_24.06.20_Debates_feature.jpg?resize=1280,720 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 480px, (max-width: 782px) 782px, 640px\" height=\"360\" width=\"640\" src=\"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2024\/06\/SR_24.06.20_Debates_feature.jpg?w=640\" alt=\"Joe Biden and Donald Trump debate in Nashville, Tennessee, on Oct. 22, 2020. (Jim Bourg\/AFP via Getty Images)\" class=\"wp-image-179155 not-transparent\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Joe Biden and Donald Trump debate in Nashville, Tennessee, on Oct. 22, 2020. (Jim Bourg\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump \u2013 the presumptive major-party nominees for the 2024 presidential election \u2013 will meet in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2024\/05\/15\/politics\/joe-biden-debate\/index.html\">first of two planned debates on June 27<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That\u2019s by far the earliest date any such debate has been staged \u2013 so early, in fact, that neither man will have been officially nominated yet. Since the first televised debates in 1960 between <a href=\"https:\/\/www.history.com\/topics\/us-presidents\/kennedy-nixon-debates\">John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon<\/a>, all such events have been held in September or October.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The early date isn\u2019t the only thing setting this year\u2019s debates apart. The June debate is being organized by CNN and the Sept. 10 follow-up by ABC, bypassing the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.debates.org\/about-cpd\/\">Commission on Presidential Debates<\/a>. The commission had sponsored all presidential and vice presidential debates since 1988, sharing the broadcast with all channels that wanted to air it. (The commission has proposed a vice presidential debate for Sept. 25, but it\u2019s not yet clear that the Biden and Trump campaigns will <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/harris-biden-trump-debate-vp-2024-658f27ee93dac91ea2ac97c16ca33f8c\">agree to participate<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Presidential debates have <a href=\"https:\/\/cla.purdue.edu\/academic\/history\/debate\/recenthistory\/CPD.html\">long been criticized<\/a> on both <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/08\/12\/opinion\/debates-trump-biden.html\">substantive and stylistic grounds<\/a>, but they remain a major part of the campaign season. Here are six things to know before the first debate.<\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"border-width:1px;padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);padding-left:var(--wp--preset--spacing--30);padding-right:var(--wp--preset--spacing--30);padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);--block-gap: inherit\" class=\"wp-block-prc-block-collapsible has-background has-ui-beige-very-light-background-color has-border-color has-ui-beige-dark-border-color\" id=\"how-we-did-this\" data-wp-interactive=\"{&quot;namespace&quot;:&quot;prc-block\\\/collapsible&quot;}\" data-wp-context=\"{&quot;collapsibleId&quot;:&quot;how-we-did-this&quot;,&quot;isOpen&quot;:false}\" data-wp-class--is-open=\"context.isOpen\" data-wp-init--scroll-into-view=\"callbacks.onInitScrollIntoView\"><div class=\"wp-block-prc-block-collapsible__title\" data-wp-on--click=\"actions.onClick\"><div>How we did this<\/div><button class=\"wp-block-prc-block-collapsible__icon\"><span data-wp-bind--hidden=\"context.isOpen\"><i class=\"icon icon-library__light icon__circle-plus\"><svg style=\"width: 1em; height: 1em;\"><use xlink:href=\"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/plugins\/prc-icon-library\/build\/icons\/sprites\/light.svg#circle-plus\"><\/use><\/svg><\/i><\/span><span data-wp-bind--hidden=\"!context.isOpen\" hidden><i class=\"icon icon-library__light icon__circle-minus\"><svg style=\"width: 1em; height: 1em;\"><use xlink:href=\"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/plugins\/prc-icon-library\/build\/icons\/sprites\/light.svg#circle-minus\"><\/use><\/svg><\/i><\/span><\/button><\/div><div class=\"wp-block-prc-block-collapsible__content\">\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To lay some groundwork for the 2024 presidential debates, we looked back at the history of presidential and vice presidential debates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Data on voters\u2019 perceptions of the debates\u2019 helpfulness and their decision-making process was drawn from previous Pew Research Center surveys. Refer to the links in the text for more methodological detail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Viewership was based primarily on figures from Nielsen Media Research, supplemented by estimates from the Commission on Presidential Debates and, in one case, The New York Times. Other sources included the commission\u2019s records on prior debates and contemporaneous media reports from various publications. Links to these sources can be found in the text of this analysis.<\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"is-style-has-big-number wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The debates draw a <em>lot<\/em> of viewers.<\/strong> Although viewership of the debates as a share of the total TV audience has broadly fallen over the decades, they can still attract more people than just about any other <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/blogs\/on-media\/2016\/09\/first-trump-clinton-debate-smashes-ratings-records-228788\">televised event<\/a> besides the Super Bowl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright size-640-wide is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2024\/06\/21\/6-facts-about-presidential-and-vice-presidential-debates\/sr_24-06-20_debates_1\/\"><img data-dominant-color=\"f0ead9\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2024\/06\/SR_24.06.20_Debates_1.png?resize=480,1273 480w, https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2024\/06\/SR_24.06.20_Debates_1.png?resize=782,2074 782w, https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2024\/06\/SR_24.06.20_Debates_1.png?resize=840,2228 840w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 480px, (max-width: 782px) 782px, 640px\" height=\"1698\" width=\"640\" src=\"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2024\/06\/SR_24.06.20_Debates_1.png?w=640\" alt=\"A bar chart showing that recent presidential debates rank among the most-viewed.\" class=\"wp-image-179068 not-transparent\" style=\"--dominant-color: #f0ead9; width:420px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">More than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/09\/30\/business\/media\/trump-biden-debate-ratings.html\">73 million people<\/a> watched at least some of the first Trump-Biden debate in 2020, according to Nielsen Media Research. (Nielsen defines audience as viewers ages 2 and older.) That\u2019s the third-largest debate audience ever, trailing only the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nielsen.com\/us\/en\/insights\/article\/2016\/first-presidential-debate-of-2016-draws-84-million-viewers\/\">first debate between Hillary Clinton and Trump<\/a> in 2016 (84 million viewers) and the 1980 debate between President Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan (80.6 million).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Older people were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nielsen.com\/news-center\/2020\/media-advisory-first-presidential-debate-of-2020\/\">most likely to watch<\/a> the first Trump-Biden debate, according to Nielsen. The debate drew a 42.7 rating among viewers ages 55 and older, versus 25.5 among 35- to 54-year-olds and 12.0 among 18- to 34-year-olds. (Nielsen ratings measure the percentage of television-owning households watching a particular program, but the company also collects data on individual viewers.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This ratings data can be interpreted in various ways. On one hand, it seems to align with research that shows that <a href=\"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2024\/05\/28\/more-than-half-of-americans-are-following-election-news-closely-and-many-are-already-worn-out\/#:~:text=As%20in%20past,18%20to%2029\">older people are more likely to follow presidential election news<\/a>. However, the Nielsen numbers only included people who watched the debates on traditional TV channels or via devices connected to TV sets (at home or outside the home) \u2013 not those who streamed the debates or watched them online. And according to a <a href=\"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2021\/03\/17\/cable-and-satellite-tv-use-has-dropped-dramatically-in-the-u-s-since-2015\/ft_21-03-03_techadoptioncable_3-png\/\">2021 Pew Research Center study<\/a>, only 34% of U.S. adults under 30 get TV through cable or satellite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"is-style-has-big-number wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Ratings for the presidential debates have risen and fallen over the decades,<\/strong> according to Nielsen data. The four 1960 debates all had ratings of around 60.0, meaning roughly six-in-ten households with TV sets were tuned to the debates. When the debates were revived in 1976, their ratings were lower \u2013 generally around 50.0.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ratings for the debates trended lower over the next two decades. The third debate between Al Gore and George W. Bush in 2000 had just a 25.9 rating. Since then, debate ratings have generally trended modestly upward: The first Biden-Trump debate in 2020 drew a 40.2 rating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-640-wide is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2024\/06\/21\/6-facts-about-presidential-and-vice-presidential-debates\/sr_24-06-20_debates_2\/\"><img data-dominant-color=\"f4f4f1\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2024\/06\/SR_24.06.20_Debates_2.png?resize=480,645 480w, https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2024\/06\/SR_24.06.20_Debates_2.png?resize=782,1050 782w, https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2024\/06\/SR_24.06.20_Debates_2.png?resize=840,1128 840w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 480px, (max-width: 782px) 782px, 640px\" height=\"859\" width=\"640\" src=\"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2024\/06\/SR_24.06.20_Debates_2.png?w=640\" alt=\"A chart showing that ratings for presidential and vice presidential debates have varied over the years.\" class=\"wp-image-179069 not-transparent\" style=\"--dominant-color: #f4f4f1; width:420px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"is-style-has-big-number wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Voters find the debates useful, but not necessarily determinative.<\/strong> Pew Research Center conducted <a href=\"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/politics\/2016\/11\/21\/voters-evaluations-of-the-campaign\/\">post-election surveys <\/a>from 1988 through 2016. In most cases, six-in-ten or more voters said the debates were very or somewhat helpful in deciding which candidate to vote for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright size-640-wide is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2024\/06\/21\/6-facts-about-presidential-and-vice-presidential-debates\/sr_24-06-20_debates_3\/\"><img data-dominant-color=\"ede8db\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2024\/06\/SR_24.06.20_Debates_3.png?resize=480,506 480w, https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2024\/06\/SR_24.06.20_Debates_3.png?resize=782,825 782w, https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2024\/06\/SR_24.06.20_Debates_3.png?resize=840,886 840w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 480px, (max-width: 782px) 782px, 640px\" height=\"675\" width=\"640\" src=\"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2024\/06\/SR_24.06.20_Debates_3.png?w=640\" alt=\"A diverging bar chart showing that many voters say presidential debates aid in making up their minds.\" class=\"wp-image-179077 not-transparent\" style=\"--dominant-color: #ede8db; width:420px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The high point was 1992, when 70% of voters said the three debates that year between Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Ross Perot were at least somewhat helpful. (The Center did not ask this question following the 2020 election.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2016, for example, only 10% of voters said they had definitively made up their minds \u201cduring or just after\u201d the presidential debates. By comparison, 11% said they\u2019d decided later, in the days or weeks before or on Election Day. More (22%) said they had decided during or just after the summertime party conventions, and 42% said they had before the conventions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"is-style-has-big-number wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The vice presidential debates are the undercard.<\/strong> In most years since 1976, when the candidates for vice president <a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/4511710\/vice-presidential-debate-history\/\">first had their own debate<\/a>, the running mates have been runners-up when it comes to viewership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2020, for example, 57.9 million people watched the debate between Vice President Mike Pence and then-Sen. Kamala Harris. That was 8% below the viewership of the lowest-rated Biden-Trump debate, though well above the 37.2 million who tuned in to the 2016 debate between Pence and Sen. Tim Kaine, the Democratic vice presidential hopeful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The lone exception to this rule came in 2008, when more people (69.9 million) tuned in to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-usa-politics-ratings\/palin-biden-debate-sets-tv-ratings-record-idUSTRE4927XF20081004\">vice presidential debate<\/a> between then-Sen. Biden and then-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin than any of the three presidential debates between then-Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"is-style-has-big-number wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Today\u2019s televised debates don\u2019t much resemble the first ones. <\/strong>From the first debates in 1960 between <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=AYP8-oxq8ig\">Kennedy and Nixon<\/a> through the 1988 matchups between <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=w2OIGH710aY\">George H.W. Bush and Michael Dukakis<\/a>, the candidates answered questions from panels of journalists. The moderator\u2019s job was mostly to explain and enforce the ground rules and keep the proceedings moving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But by the 1980s, the panel format was in trouble. Critics said it resembled a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1976\/09\/24\/archives\/lights-camera-candidates.html\">joint press conference<\/a> more than an actual debate and that the journalist-panelists took too much time and attention away from the candidates. The campaigns <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/archive\/politics\/1984\/10\/08\/journalists-deplore-blackballing-of-prospective-debate-panelists\/e8be8d01-26c0-4385-a2b2-f628ee619689\/\">bickered constantly<\/a> over who could or could not be a moderator or panelist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Finally, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lwv.org\/league-women-voters-and-candidate-debates-changing-relationship\">the League of Women Voters<\/a>, which had organized the 1976, 1980 and 1984 debates, threw in the towel, leaving the job to the newly created Commission on Presidential Debates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 1992, the commission tried a variety of approaches: Along with two panel-style debates, it introduced a \u201ctown hall\u201d event in which undecided voters asked the questions. That year\u2019s vice presidential debate had a single moderator pose questions to the candidates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Based on public <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/archives\/la-xpm-1992-12-18-mn-2148-story.html\">feedback afterward<\/a>, the commission decided to use only the single-moderator and town hall formats going forward. (The lone exception was a 2016 debate that was co-moderated by Anderson Cooper of CNN and Martha Raddatz of ABC News.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"is-style-has-big-number wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Most of the moderators have been broadcast journalists.<\/strong> All but two of the debate moderators since 1960 have been prominent broadcast journalists. (The exceptions were James Hoge, editor-in-chief of the <em>Chicago Sun-Times<\/em>, who moderated the 1976 vice presidential debate, and USA Today Washington bureau chief Susan Page, who moderated the 2020 vice presidential debate.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">PBS journalists have moderated the most debates: 16, including 12 by the late <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/local\/obituaries\/jim-lehrer-low-key-pbs-news-anchor-and-presidential-debate-moderator-dies-at-85\/2020\/01\/23\/21bba796-3e0b-11ea-8872-5df698785a4e_story.html\">Jim Lehrer<\/a>. The only other person to have moderated more than two presidential or vice presidential debates is Bob Schieffer of CBS News (2004, 2008 and 2012).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Note: This is an update of a post originally published on Aug. 28, 2020.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>More than 73 million people watched at least some of the first Trump-Biden debate in 2020, making it the third-largest debate audience ever.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":145,"featured_media":179155,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"sub_headline":"","sub_title":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"apple_news_api_pending":"1713063484","relatedPosts":[],"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0},"categories":[68,426,383,2394],"bylines":[842],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[467],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[515],"research-teams":[520],"workflow-status":[],"class_list":["post-9806","short-read","type-short-read","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-donald-trump","category-election-2024","category-joe-biden","category-kamala-harris","bylines-drew-desilver","formats-short-read","regions-countries-united-states","research-teams-politics"],"label":"Short Read","post_parent":0,"word_count":1227,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2024\/06\/21\/6-facts-about-presidential-and-vice-presidential-debates\/","art_direction":{"A2":{"id":179155,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2024\/06\/SR_24.06.20_Debates_feature.jpg","url":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2024\/06\/SR_24.06.20_Debates_feature.jpg?w=268&h=151&crop=1","width":268,"height":151,"caption":"Joe Biden and Donald Trump debate in Nashville, Tennessee, on Oct. 22, 2020. (Jim Bourg\/AFP via Getty Images)","chartArt":false},"XL":{"id":179155,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2024\/06\/SR_24.06.20_Debates_feature.jpg","url":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2024\/06\/SR_24.06.20_Debates_feature.jpg?w=720&h=405&crop=1","width":720,"height":405,"caption":"Joe Biden and Donald Trump debate in Nashville, Tennessee, on Oct. 22, 2020. (Jim Bourg\/AFP via Getty Images)","chartArt":false},"A3":{"id":179155,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2024\/06\/SR_24.06.20_Debates_feature.jpg","url":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2024\/06\/SR_24.06.20_Debates_feature.jpg?w=194&h=110&crop=1","width":194,"height":110,"caption":"Joe Biden and Donald Trump debate in Nashville, Tennessee, on Oct. 22, 2020. 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(Jim Bourg\/AFP via Getty Images)","chartArt":false},"social":{"id":179155,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2024\/06\/SR_24.06.20_Debates_feature.jpg","url":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2024\/06\/SR_24.06.20_Debates_feature.jpg?w=1200&h=628&crop=1","width":1200,"height":628,"caption":"Joe Biden and Donald Trump debate in Nashville, Tennessee, on Oct. 22, 2020. 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