Biden and Trump Set the Early Debate Dates, RFK Jr. Aims to Gain Sufficient Votes in Order to Qualify

Biden and Trump agree to June and September TV debates, breaking tradition. Independent RFK Jr. aims to qualify amid claims of being excluded.

The two presidential debates for this election cycle have been scheduled by President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump for June and September, respectively, marking a break from the convention by which the debates are usually held later.

The first debate of June 27th will be held in Atlanta, Georgia sponsored by CNN and without a live audience. The second will occur on ABC on September 10th, and a debate featuring the vice presidential candidates will be held in July after the Republicans have nominated their running mate.

Biden suggested these terms, which Trump quickly endorsed even though he claimed during the campaign that there should be more debates every month with the audiences present. They have been quite hurtful to each other, with Trump calling Biden a "worst debater in history" and Biden snubbing Trump's weekly court appearances concerning his criminal cases.

The first debates could have already occurred, nullifying the impact of them as candidates would have more time to fix any wrongdoings due to this before November’s election. The debates are generally scheduled toward the latter part of the election period.

Concurrently, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an independent running to be on the stage in the June debates, is also campaigning. According to CNN rules, candidates should be candidates on enough ballots in different states so that their victory could be theoretically possible with 270 electoral votes and poll at 15% support in four national surveys.

Kennedy has stated he can soon meet the ballot access criterion though he might be behind on polling criteria. He has said that Biden and Trump have a conspiracy to prevent him from participating and he sees the whole process as being 'rigged' against third-party candidates.

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The debates will gather a huge audience. According to the statistics, during the first Trump-Biden match in 2020, slightly over 73 million people watched it before their second debate was canceled when Trump contracted COVID-19.