JAKARTA - The final debate between the President of the United States (US) Donald Trump and Joe Biden will display a mute button. With that button, each candidate can speak without interruption and interruption of narrative beyond substance, as happened in the first debate.
The Trump Campaign team objected to the changes, Tuesday, October 20, Reuters reported. However, the Trump campaign said Republicans would continue to take part in the debate.
The debate is one of Trump's last chances to reach large audiences in prime time before voting ends on November 3. The Presidential Commission for debate said each candidate's microphones at the debate in Nashville, Tennessee would be muted.
It allows the other to speak during the two-minute opening speech at the start of each debate segment. Both candidate microphones will be turned on to allow sparring after the initial two minutes.
"President Trump is committed to debating Joe Biden despite the commission's biased last-minute rule change in their latest attempt to give their favorite candidate an advantage," said Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien.
Trump repeatedly interrupted Biden during the first chaotic and heated debate on September 29. At one point it provoked Biden and said, "Can you shut up, man?"
Trump then rejected a second debate scheduled for Thursday, October 15, virtually. The format change was made after Trump was declared to have contracted COVID-19. At the time, Trump raised concerns about his microphone being muted if done virtually.
"You sit at the computer and argue, that's ridiculous. Then they cut you off whenever they want," Trump said in an interview on Fox Business.
Still on Trump's side, Trump's campaign team said they were not happy with the set of topics that had been announced. They reasoned that the last debate should have focused more on foreign policy and emphasized that non-partisans were leaning towards Biden's supporters.
Biden's campaign team said the two sides had previously agreed to let moderators choose debate topics. The Biden campaign team predicts that Trump wants to avoid discussing his stewardship of the COVID-19 pandemic, which the survey says is a major problem for voters.
"As always, the president pays more attention to the rules of debate than getting the help the country needs in a crisis," said Biden spokesman TJ Ducklo.
Meanwhile, the number of Americans voting early stood at 30.2 million, according to a team from the University of Florida. That number represents more than a fifth of all votes cast in the 2016 elections.
Initial voting is likely to increase this week as more states open polling centers for those wishing to avoid possible exposure to COVID-19 at polling stations on November 3.
In Florida, where more than 2.5 million have voted by post, many citizens vote directly on the first day of voting. An Ipsos poll released last week showed Trump and Biden effectively tied up in the state, which is seen as a win for the president to achieve.
Most of the people who come to vote follow health protocols by wearing masks. Despite the heavy rain, they still queued and waited for their turn to the voting booth.
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