The 2016 United States presidential debates were a series of debates held during the 2016 presidential election.
The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), a bipartisan organization formed in 1987, organized four debates among the major party candidates, sponsored three presidential debates and one vice presidential debate. Only Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and 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 between their respective vice presidential running mates, Tim Kaine and Mike Pence.
The first 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 presidential debate took place on October 9, 2016. The third and final presidential debate took place on October 19, 2016. Additionally, a vice presidential debate took place on October 4, 2016.
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. For the vice-presidential debate, the running mates of the presidential candidates qualifying for the first presidential debate will be invited. 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. Johnson and Stein had polled as high as 13% and 7%, respectively, and had an average of 8.3% and 3%, respectively.
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.
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. 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. 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.
Moderators for the four debates were announced September 2, 2016.
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).Climate? What climate? Across four debates in this year's campaign, no moderator asked about climate change, The New York Times (October 19, 2016). 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. 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.
The debate moderators failed to ask a question about climate change at any of the three debates, although Clinton did touch on the issue twice as part of responses to other questions.Andrew C. Revkin, Climate Silence Goes Way Beyond Debate Moderators, The New York Times (October 20, 2016). The moderators' failure to address the issue prompted complaints by commentators.Nicholas Wells & Mark Fahey, The debate topics they finally talked about, CNBC (October 20, 2016).Adam Johnson, The Debates Are Over, and No One Asked About Climate Change, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (October 10, 2016). David Leonhardt of The New York Times termed it "a failure of journalism" and a "a grievous error."David Leonhardt, The Debates Were a Failure of Journalism, The New York Times (October 20, 2016). 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.Oliver Milman, Why has climate change been ignored in the US election debates?, The Guardian (October 19, 2016).
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.Leo Shane III, Here are the biggest defense topics the presidential debates skipped, Military Times (October 20, 2016). 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." 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.Stephanie Stamm & Erik Hinton, What's Left Unsaid After Three Debates, The Wall Street Journal (October 20, 2016). 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. 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. 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.
Speaking time Speaking time at the debates was as follows: At the first presidential debate, Trump spoke for 45 minutes and three seconds; Clinton spoke for 41 minutes and 50 seconds.Jessie Hellmann, Clinton surpasses Trump in speaking time at final debate, The Hill (October 20, 2016). At the second presidential debate, Trump spoke for 40 minutes and 10 seconds; Clinton spoke for 39 minutes and five seconds. At the third presidential debate, Trump spoke for 35 minutes and 41 seconds; Clinton spoke for 41 minutes and 46 seconds.
Overall, Clinton spoke for 107 seconds more 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 ClintonTim Kaine Donald TrumpMike Pence Gary JohnsonBill Weld Jill SteinAjamu Baraka ABC/The Washington PostSeptember 5–846%41%9%2% CBS/The New York TimesSeptember 9–1341%41%8%4% CNN/Opinion Research CorporationSeptember 1–443%45%7%2% Fox NewsSeptember 11–1441%40%8%3% NBC/The Wall Street JournalJuly 31 – August 343%34%10%5% Average 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: PollDate taken Hillary Clinton Donald Trump Gary Johnson Jill Stein ABC/The Washington PostSeptember 19–2246%44%5%1% CBS/The New York TimesSeptember 28 – October 245%41%8%3% CNN/Opinion Research CorporationSeptember 28 – October 247%42%7%2% Fox NewsSeptember 27–2943%40%8%4% NBC/The Wall Street JournalSeptember 16–1943%37%9%2% Average September 16 – October 2 44.8% 40.8% 7.4% 2.6%
Third presidential debate The following polls were the most recent conducted prior to October 14, 2016, the polling deadline for the third presidential debate: PollDate taken Hillary Clinton Donald Trump Gary Johnson Jill Stein ABC/The Washington PostSeptember 19–2246%44%5%1% CBS/The New York TimesSeptember 28 – October 245%41%8%3% CNN/Opinion Research CorporationSeptember 28 – October 247%42%7%2% Fox NewsOctober 10–1245%38%7%3% NBC/The Wall Street JournalOctober 8–1046%37%8%2% Average September 19 – October 12 45.8% 40.4% 7.0% 2.2%
Debate list All presidential debates (including the vice presidential debate) ran from 9:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. EDT.
2016 United States presidential election debates Date and time Host Location Moderator ParticipantsKey: Participant SecretaryHillary Clintonof New York BusinessmanDonald Trumpof New York Monday, September 26, 2016 9:00 – 10:30 p.m. EDT Hofstra University Hempstead, New York Lester Holt of NBC Sunday, October 9, 2016, 9:00 – 10:30 p.m. EDT Washington University in St. Louis St. Louis, Missouri Martha Raddatz of ABCAnderson Cooper of CNN Wednesday, October 19, 2016, 9:00 – 10:30 p.m. EDT University of Nevada, Las Vegas Paradise, Nevada Chris Wallace of Fox
2016 United States vice presidential debate Date and time Host Location Moderator ParticipantsKey: Participant SenatorTim Kaineof Virginia GovernorMike Penceof Indiana Tuesday, October 4, 2016 9:00 – 10:30 p.m. EDT Longwood University Farmville, Virginia Elaine Quijano of CBS
September 26: First presidential debate (Hofstra University)
The first presidential debate between former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Businessman Donald Trump, took place on Monday, September 26, 2016, at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. The debate was moderated by Lester Holt of NBC. It was originally scheduled to take place at Wright State University, but the venue was changed due to security and financial concerns.
Format The first presidential debate was divided into six segments, each of approximately 15 minutes in length, with the moderator introducing a topic and giving each candidate two minutes, followed by approximately 8 minutes and 45 seconds of facilitated discussion between the two candidates, with both candidates receiving approximately equal time. The questions discussed during the 90 minutes were at the sole discretion of the moderator, and were not shared beforehand with the commission or with either campaign. Each candidate spoke in front of a podium. Besides applause at the beginning and end of the debate, there was no audience participation allowed, but sporadic applause occurred at various points throughout the 90 minutes.
The segments were on the economy and job creation, trade, the federal deficit, race relations and policing, the war on terror, the foreign policy of the United States, and each candidate's experience in the political and business realm.
Reception