US Election 2020: Joe Biden, Donald Trump to clash in first debate at 6.30 am IST; all you need to know – World News , Firstpost

Preparations take place for the first Presidential debate in the Sheila and Eric Samson Pavilion in Cleveland. AP

Ahead of the US presidential election on 3 November, Republican candidate and incumbent President Donald Trump will go head-to-head with Democratic Party candidate Joe Biden at 6.30 am Indian Standard Time.

The much-awaited clash, set to occur at 9 pm Eastern Time in Cleveland, will be moderated by Chris Wallace, the anchor of Fox News Sunday. This will be the second time Wallace will be moderating a presidential debate. He earlier helmed the Trump and Clinton debate in 2016.

This will be the first of three debates ahead of November’s election.

As per Indian Express, the 90-minute debate will be divided into six 15-minute segments. Each segment will focus on vital topics including the candidates’ records, the Supreme Court, the COVID-19 pandemic, the economy, race and violence in the US, and the integrity of the election.

Here are some other details about the first debate 2020 between Trump and Biden:

Time

The first debate will be held on 29 September from 9 pm to 10:30 pm Eastern Time. In India, the debate will be televised live between 6:30 am and 8 am.

Venue

The debate is slated to occur at the Samson Pavillion of the Health Education Campus (HEC) shared by Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio.

The debate was earlier scheduled to take place at the University of Notre Dame but the university, citing the COVID-19 pandemic, withdrew as host.

Where to watch

The New York Times will be streaming the first debate event live. It will also be aired on channels including CNN, Fox News, CBS, ABC, C-SPAN, NBC and MSNBC.

Format

The entire debate will be divided into six segments. Each segment will be around 15 minutes. The moderator will introduce a topic and give each candidate two minutes. This will be followed by a discussion between the candidates, with the two receiving approximately equal time.

Safety precautions

Amid the customs and routines upended by the coronavirus will be the customary display of civility before the debate: Trump and Biden are not expected to shake hands at the opening. They will each be stationed at podiums spaced far apart and are expected to have a limited, socially distanced audience reports The Associated Press.

Future debates

The second debate is set to occur on 15 October. The debate will be hosted at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami, Florida. Steve Scully, the political editor at C-SPAN, will be moderating the debate.

The third and final debate will occur on 22 October at the Curb Event Center at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. This debate will be moderated by NBC News White House correspondent Kristen Welker.

V-P debate on 7 Oct

Democratic vice-presidential candidate Senator Kamala Harris and Vice-President Mike Pence are set to debate just once: in Salt Lake City, Utah, on 7 October.

The debate will be hosted at Kingsbury Hall at the University of Utah and will be moderated by USA Today’s Washington Bureau chief Susan Page. According to The New York Times, the debate will be split into nine segments, each around 10 minutes.