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00:00Turning to the United States, where presidential contenders Joe Biden and Donald Trump will
00:04face off on a debate stage in Atlanta this Thursday.
00:08It's the first of two debates ahead of November's election, with the second scheduled for September.
00:13It's the first ever matchup between a sitting president and a former one, and while the
00:17two have faced each other before, the rules this time will be significantly different,
00:21with moderators able to mute the candidates and with no live audience.
00:26David Smith, the Washington bureau chief for The Guardian newspaper, has more on whether
00:30this debate is going to make a difference.
00:33This race is very, very close.
00:37Opinion polls show them pretty much neck and neck, perhaps Donald Trump with a slight lead
00:42certainly in some of the crucial swing states, but the dynamic is so close that anything
00:49could have an impact and anything could matter.
00:53I think Donald Trump's supporters are trying to manage expectations.
00:58They have spent months portraying Joe Biden as old at 81 and feeble and unable to give
01:05speeches and so, of course, that sets the bar very low and it will not be difficult
01:11for Biden to exceed those expectations and for everybody to say he had a great night.
01:18On the other hand, I think Biden could debate brilliantly, but if he makes one gaffe or
01:23has one moment where he appears to freeze, of course, that may well be the clip that
01:29goes viral on social media and that gets promoted by Trump's allies and everyone remembers.
01:35The same on the other side, we know Donald Trump can be wild and wayward and unhinged.
01:42If he makes one crazy statement, then again, I'm sure Democrats will absolutely seize on
01:49that.
01:50It's possible that the fact that microphones will be muted when they're not speaking could
01:54help Trump a bit.
01:55It could impose some discipline on him.
01:59The first debate in 2020, Trump was interrupting constantly and generally, people said this
02:05is one of the worst debates in history.
02:09The other thing to watch, of course, in terms of shaping this race is just the issues, immigration,
02:15the economy, abortion rights and the battle to save democracy.
02:23Some of those are stronger for Biden, some are stronger for Trump and so I think Americans
02:27will be watching very closely for how they deal with those issues.