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 2016 U.S. presidential election | |
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The 2016 United States presidential debates were a series of debates held for the presidential election. The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), a bipartisan organization formed in 1987, organized three debates among the major presidential candidates. The first of these presidential debates took place on September 26, 2016, and set the record as the most-watched debate in American history, with 84 million viewers. The second debate took place on October 9, and the third took place on October 19. All CPD debates occurred from approximately 9 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. EDT (6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. PDT). Only the Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and the Republican nominee Donald Trump met the criteria for inclusion in the debates, and thus were the only two to appear in the debates sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates. The CPD-sponsored vice presidential debate took place on October 4, 2016. Only Democratic nominee Tim Kaine and Republican nominee Mike Pence appeared in it.
Commission on Presidential Debates-sponsored debates
The Commission on Presidential Debates stipulates three criteria for eligibility for the presidential debates: constitutional eligibility to serve as president, appearance on enough ballots to potentially reach 270 electoral votes, and an average at least 15% on five selected national polls.[1] For the vice-presidential debate, the running mates of the presidential candidates qualifying for the first presidential debate will be invited.[1] By mid-September Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, Gary Johnson, and Jill Stein were on enough ballots to reach 270 electoral votes; however, only Clinton and Trump had reached the 15% polling threshold.[2] As of August 2016,[update] Johnson and Stein had polled as high as 13% and 7%, respectively, and had an average of 8.3% and 3%, respectively.[3]
On August 15, the CPD announced that it would use the most recent CBS/The New York Times, Fox News, CNN/Opinion Research Corporation, NBC/The Wall Street Journal, and ABC/The Washington Post polls for the debate criteria and that candidates must be at an average of 15% in these polls.[4][5]
On September 16, the commission announced the official invitation of both Clinton and Trump to participate in the first debate to be held on September 26 at Hofstra University, but Johnson and Stein did not meet the established criteria, and would not be participants in the debate.[6][7] The commission also confirmed that Clinton and Trump had committed to participate. It was also announced that Mike Pence and Tim Kaine would be participating in the only scheduled vice presidential debate, to take place at Longwood University on October 4.[6][7] The 15% threshold was reapplied with polling numbers following the first debate in order to judge the participants in the second debate on October 9.[7]
Moderators for the four debates were announced September 2, 2016.[8]
Topics addressed and not addressed
Over the combined six hours of debate time at the three presidential debates and one vice presidential debate, the issues most raised in moderators' questions were the Syrian civil war (six questions) and terrorism (four questions).[9] U.S.-Russia relations, immigration, job creation, Trump's taxes, and Trump's lewd leaked recording controversy were each asked about in three questions, and Clinton's emails, the Supreme Court, Social Security, taxation of the wealthy, the national debt, Iraq, the Affordable Care Act, "uniting the country," nuclear weapons, and the legitimacy of the election, were each the subject of two questions.[9] A number of issues were the subject of a single question, including expectations of police conduct, race relations, abortion, gun policy, "birtherism," jobs in the energy industry, cyberterrorism, Islamophobia, the Clinton Foundation, the Donald J. Trump Foundation, the strengths of the candidates' opponents, the skills of the vice presidential nominees, the candidate's faith, the low favorability ratings of both candidates, the paid speeches given by Clinton, Trump's Twitter posts, Clinton's "basket of deplorables" remark, Clinton's "look," and the candidates' behavior.[9]
The debate moderators failed to ask a question about climate change at any of the three debates,[9] although Clinton did touch on the issue twice as part of responses to other questions.[10] The moderators' failure to address the issue prompted complaints by commentators.[11][12] David Leonhardt of The New York Times termed it "a failure of journalism" and a "a grievous error."[13] Prominent climate scientists Kerry Emanuel and Michael E. Mann, as well as activist group 350.org, criticized the failure of the debates to address the issue.[14]
A number of other issues were either addressed sparingly or not at all:
- On national security issues, the sole mention of Afghanistan, the U.S.'s longest-running war, came in a mention by Clinton in response to a question about NATO in the first debate.[15] Veterans and the VA were the subject of brief mentions six times over the three presidential debates, but "never in the context of major policy or reform proposals."[15]
- On foreign policy, a number of issues were not addressed by any candidate or moderator, including Africa, U.S.-Cuba relations, China's nine-dash line, South America, Egypt, and drone warfare.[16]
- On domestic policy, issues that neither candidate mentioned in any debate include universal pre-kindergarten, affirmative action, the death penalty, the NSA, the Patriot Act, marijuana, charter schools, and DACA or the Dreamers.[16]
- On economic issues, issues that neither candidate mentioned in any debate include budget sequestration, the capital gains tax, paid leave, oil drilling and fracking, pensions, and labor unions.[16]
- On Russian cyberattacks on the United States and influence on the election, no questions were asked, but during the third debate Clinton revealed her knowledge of behind the scenes events, which she stated happened because Putin favored Trump, whom she called a "puppet". Trump strongly rejected the description.[17]
Speaking time
Speaking time at the debates was as follows:
- At the first presidential debate, Trump spoke for 45 minutes and 3 seconds; Clinton spoke for 41 minutes and 50 seconds.[18]
- At the second presidential debate, Trump spoke for 40 minutes and 10 seconds; Clinton spoke for 39 minutes and 5 seconds.[18]
- At the third presidential debate, Trump spoke for 35 minutes and 41 seconds; Clinton spoke for 41 minutes and 46 seconds.[18]
Overall, Clinton spoke for 107 seconds longer than Trump.
Polling
The following polls were conducted prior to each of the respective debates, and determined the candidates who participated in each debate.
Candidates in green participated in the debate, while those in red were excluded. Italics denotes the leading candidate in the respective poll.
First presidential debate
The following polls were the most recent conducted prior to September 16, 2016, the polling deadline for both the first presidential debate and only vice presidential debate:
| Poll | Date taken | Hillary Clinton Tim Kaine Democratic |
Donald Trump Mike Pence Republican |
Gary Johnson William Weld Libertarian |
Jill Stein Ajamu Baraka Green |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC/The Washington Post[19] | September 5–8 | 46% | 41% | 9% | 2% |
| CBS/The New York Times[20] | September 9–13 | 41% | 41% | 8% | 4% |
| CNN/Opinion Research Corporation[21] | September 1–4 | 43% | 45% | 7% | 2% |
| Fox News[22] | September 11–14 | 41% | 40% | 8% | 3% |
| NBC/The Wall Street Journal[23] | July 31 – August 3 | 43% | 34% | 10% | 5% |
| Average[24] | July 31 – September 14 | 42.8% | 40.2% | 8.4% | 3.2% |
Second presidential debate
The following polls were the most recent conducted prior to October 4, 2016, the polling deadline for the second presidential debate: