# 2024 Joe Biden–Donald Trump presidential debate
The first 2024 [Joe Biden](https://www.edgepedia.org/joe-biden)–Donald Trump presidential debate was a general-election debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, hosted by CNN at its Atlanta studios on June 27, 2024, and moderated by anchors [Jake Tapper](https://www.edgepedia.org/jake-tapper) and [Dana Bash](https://www.edgepedia.org/dana-bash)[1](https://www.cnnnewsource.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/2024-June-Presidential-Debate-Coverage-Plan-FINAL.pdf). It was the first debate ever staged between a sitting president and a former president, and the earliest general-election presidential debate in American history[2](https://www.abcnews.com/Politics/earliest-presidential-debate-affect-election/story?id=111454006). Biden's halting performance drew broad criticism, and he withdrew from the race weeks afterward[3](https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.03152).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Date and venue | Thursday, June 27, 2024, 9 p.m. Eastern, CNN studios in Atlanta, Georgia[1](https://www.cnnnewsource.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/2024-June-Presidential-Debate-Coverage-Plan-FINAL.pdf) |
| Moderators | CNN anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash[4](https://politifact.com/article/2024/jun/28/2024-presidential-debate-fact-check-biden-trump/) |
| Format | 90 minutes, muted microphones, no studio audience, no opening statements, two-minute closing statements, two commercial breaks with no staff contact[5](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/06/15/presidential-debate-cnn-rules/) |
| Historical firsts | First debate between a sitting and a former president; earliest general-election debate ever; first since 1960 held outside September or October[2](https://www.abcnews.com/Politics/earliest-presidential-debate-affect-election/story?id=111454006) • [6](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/06/21/6-facts-about-presidential-and-vice-presidential-debates/) |
| Viewership | 51.27 million viewers across US TV channels, the highest-rated program in CNN history[7](https://commercial.cnn.com/latest-news/press/cnns-presidential-debate-draws-51-3-million-viewers/) |
| Immediate verdict | A CNN flash poll found a majority of debate watchers said Trump outperformed Biden[8](https://keyt.com/politics/cnn-us-politics/2024/06/27/cnn-flash-poll-majority-of-debate-watchers-say-trump-outperformed-biden/) |
| Aftermath | Biden ended his candidacy; the debate is treated in market research as one of the election's three major political shocks, alongside the assassination attempt and Biden's drop out[3](https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.03152) |
## Organization and rules
Biden and Trump arranged the debate directly with CNN, bypassing the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates, which had sponsored every presidential and vice presidential debate since 1988[6](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/06/21/6-facts-about-presidential-and-vice-presidential-debates/). Both campaigns agreed in writing to the rules and format CNN outlined in letters sent in May 2024[5](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/06/15/presidential-debate-cnn-rules/).
The rules were designed to avoid the interruptions that marked the 2020 meetings between the two men. Microphones were muted except when it was a candidate's turn to speak; there was no live studio audience; candidates received two minutes per answer and one minute for rebuttals; and there were no opening statements, only two-minute closing statements, with Biden speaking first and Trump last[5](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/06/15/presidential-debate-cnn-rules/). Campaign staff could not interact with the candidates during the two commercial breaks, and no props or written notes were allowed on stage[5](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/06/15/presidential-debate-cnn-rules/). The lecterns stood eight feet apart, with Biden's campaign having won a coin flip to choose lectern position over closing-statement order[5](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/06/15/presidential-debate-cnn-rules/). Only Biden and Trump met CNN's constitutional, ballot access, and polling qualifications; [Robert F. Kennedy Jr.](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-f-kennedy-jr) and other non-major-party candidates failed to qualify[5](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/06/15/presidential-debate-cnn-rules/).
## The debate
The two candidates clashed on the economy, immigration, and abortion, and revisited discussion of their ages; Biden was 81 and Trump 78[4](https://politifact.com/article/2024/jun/28/2024-presidential-debate-fact-check-biden-trump/). Biden spoke in a raspy voice at the start and struggled at points, saying twelve minutes and fifteen seconds in, apparently having lost his train of thought, "we beat Medicare"[9](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GOVPUB-Y4_OV2-PURL-gpo255054/pdf/GOVPUB-Y4_OV2-PURL-gpo255054.pdf). After the debate, at a [Waffle House](https://www.edgepedia.org/waffle-house) stop, he told reporters he had had a sore throat[4](https://politifact.com/article/2024/jun/28/2024-presidential-debate-fact-check-biden-trump/). Trump attacked Biden's record, blaming inflation and other issues on Biden's "insane and stupid policies," and Biden questioned Trump's conduct, noting that Trump is a convicted felon[4](https://politifact.com/article/2024/jun/28/2024-presidential-debate-fact-check-biden-trump/).
The muted microphones kept the exchanges orderly, avoiding the near-constant interruptions of the candidates' 2020 debates[10](https://abcnews.com/Politics/cnns-biden-trump-presidential-debate-format-work/story?id=111501632). The strict time limits, however, were paired with little to no live fact-checking by the moderators[10](https://abcnews.com/Politics/cnns-biden-trump-presidential-debate-format-work/story?id=111501632) • [11](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jun/27/fact-check-debate-biden-trump).
## Fact-checking
News organizations and independent fact-checkers documented extensive false and misleading statements from both candidates on immigration, the economy, abortion, taxes, and crime[12](https://www.factcheck.org/2024/06/factchecking-the-biden-trump-debate/). PolitiFact's review rated Trump's claim that Biden "allowed millions of people to come in here from prisons, jails and mental institutions" as Pants on Fire, finding no evidence for it; rated Biden's claim of 40 percent fewer people crossing the border illegally as Mostly True, matching a Department of Homeland Security figure after the June 4 asylum policy announcement; and rated Trump's claim of having "the safest border in the history of our country" as Mostly False[4](https://politifact.com/article/2024/jun/28/2024-presidential-debate-fact-check-biden-trump/). PolitiFact separately observed that the candidates themselves mostly struggled to fact-check each other in real time[13](https://politifact.com/article/2024/jul/02/on-the-biden-trump-debate-stage-fact-checks-were-h/).
## Audience and reaction
The debate drew a combined audience of 51.27 million viewers on US television channels, the highest-rated program in CNN history, though a decline from debate audiences in past election cycles[7](https://commercial.cnn.com/latest-news/press/cnns-presidential-debate-draws-51-3-million-viewers/) • [14](https://www.axios.com/2024/06/28/biden-trump-debate-ratings-viewership-election). A CNN flash poll taken after the debate found that a majority of debate watchers said Trump outperformed Biden; the poll's audience was five points likelier to be Republican-aligned than Democratic-aligned, making it slightly more GOP-leaning than registered voters nationally[8](https://keyt.com/politics/cnn-us-politics/2024/06/27/cnn-flash-poll-majority-of-debate-watchers-say-trump-outperformed-biden/).
Reactions to the format itself divided. Some commentators credited the muted microphones and absent audience with bringing order to the stage; others argued that moderators who declined to correct false statements in real time left the exchange misleading[10](https://abcnews.com/Politics/cnns-biden-trump-presidential-debate-format-work/story?id=111501632). A Reuters focus group of nine undecided voters found that the seven who were dismayed by Biden's performance were afterward leaning toward Trump, citing his lack of mental acuity[15](https://cdn.businessday.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/BD_20240701.pdf).
## Aftermath
Biden's performance intensified questions about his age and fitness that had trailed his candidacy, and he withdrew from the race in the weeks that followed[3](https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.03152). Vice President Kamala Harris became the Democratic nominee and debated Trump on September 10, 2024, in a debate hosted by ABC News, where moderators corrected Trump on air at least four times, a contrast with the CNN debate[10](https://abcnews.com/Politics/cnns-biden-trump-presidential-debate-format-work/story?id=111501632) • [16](https://apnews.com/article/639ceab0831b4c304fb132bcf254e48a).
## References
1. [CNN Presidential Debate Coverage Plan, June 27, 2024](https://www.cnnnewsource.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/2024-June-Presidential-Debate-Coverage-Plan-FINAL.pdf)
2. [How might the earliest presidential debate ever affect the election? ABC News](https://www.abcnews.com/Politics/earliest-presidential-debate-affect-election/story?id=111454006)
3. [Political Shocks and Price Discovery in Prediction Markets: Evidence from the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election, arXiv](https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.03152)
4. [2024 presidential debate fact-check: How accurate were Joe Biden, Donald Trump? PolitiFact](https://politifact.com/article/2024/jun/28/2024-presidential-debate-fact-check-biden-trump/)
5. [What we know about how the CNN presidential debate will work, The Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/06/15/presidential-debate-cnn-rules/)
6. [6 facts about presidential and vice presidential debates, Pew Research Center](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/06/21/6-facts-about-presidential-and-vice-presidential-debates/)
7. [CNN's Presidential Debate draws 51.3 million viewers, CNN International Commercial](https://commercial.cnn.com/latest-news/press/cnns-presidential-debate-draws-51-3-million-viewers/)
8. [CNN Flash Poll: Majority of debate watchers say Trump outperformed Biden](https://keyt.com/politics/cnn-us-politics/2024/06/27/cnn-flash-poll-majority-of-debate-watchers-say-trump-outperformed-biden/)
9. [Congressional hearing record citing the 2024 CNN Presidential Debate, govinfo](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GOVPUB-Y4_OV2-PURL-gpo255054/pdf/GOVPUB-Y4_OV2-PURL-gpo255054.pdf)
10. [Did CNN's Biden-Trump presidential debate format work? ABC News](https://abcnews.com/Politics/cnns-biden-trump-presidential-debate-format-work/story?id=111501632)
11. [Factchecked: Trump and Biden's presidential debate claims, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jun/27/fact-check-debate-biden-trump)
12. [FactChecking the Biden-Trump Debate, FactCheck.org](https://www.factcheck.org/2024/06/factchecking-the-biden-trump-debate/)
13. [On the Biden-Trump debate stage, fact-checks were hard to find, PolitiFact](https://politifact.com/article/2024/jul/02/on-the-biden-trump-debate-stage-fact-checks-were-h/)
14. [CNN's Trump-Biden debate draws 51 million viewers in drop from past elections, Axios](https://www.axios.com/2024/06/28/biden-trump-debate-ratings-viewership-election)
15. [U.S. presidential debate coverage, BusinessDay (Reuters focus group)](https://cdn.businessday.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/BD_20240701.pdf)
16. [Fact-check fight: CBS News cuts candidates' mics after JD Vance objects to a moderator's correction, AP News](https://apnews.com/article/639ceab0831b4c304fb132bcf254e48a)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Politics and government › Elections and representation › Elections and referendums › United States election events › United States federal election events › US presidential election events › US presidential election cycle sub-events › Per-cycle debates and campaign forums*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license