Thursday’s debate between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden will mark the second and last time both presidential candidates will talk one-on-one before Election Day.
The event takes place after the previously scheduled debate on Oct. 15 was cancelled following Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis. This week’s hour-and-a-half debate will take place starting at 9 p.m. ET and is being held at Belmont University in Nashville.
The event, moderated by Kristen Welker, can be accessed through most major television networks, including ABC, CNN, C-SPAN, NBC, CBS, Fox and MSNBC. Several streaming services like Hulu also plan to offer a stream of the debate, and as with the first debate, news networks will offer livestreams on YouTube.
Welker previously announced that the six topics she plans to have the two candidates discuss are race in America, fighting COVID-19, American families, national security, leadership and climate change. Trump tweeted over the weekend, voicing his disappointment in how “terrible and unfair” Welker is.
After widespread complaints about the many interruptions during the first debate, the Commission on Presidential Debates implemented a new rule for Thursday’s event. While one candidate is giving their allotted two-minute answer to a topic, their opponent’s microphone will remain muted.
As with the first debate, however, both candidates will forego the handshake often held as tradition. Other pandemic-related guidelines includes a mandate for all audience members to wear face masks, though neither candidate nor Welker will be required to do so.
As the election nears, the number of voters open to the influence of debates and campaigning continues to decrease at a rapid pace. Over 45 million registered voters have already cast their ballots with slightly under two weeks left in the election.