Who is sponsoring the presidential debates

Founded in , the CPD has sponsored every general presidential and vice presidential debate since The CPD is controlled by an independent board. As of September , Frank Fahrenkopf Jr. The CPD's funding primarily comes from the communities that host the debates and corporate, foundation, and private donors. It does not receive funding from the government or any political party. On October 11, , the CPD announced the dates of three presidential debates and one vice presidential debate for the general election.

The CPD listed the following mission statement on its website: [4]. The Commission on Presidential Debates CPD was established in to ensure, for the benefit of the American electorate, that general election debates between or among the leading candidates for the offices of President and Vice President of the United States are a permanent part of the electoral process.

The organization, which is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, c 3 corporation, sponsored all of the presidential debates in , , , , , , , and To meet its ongoing goal of educating voters, the CPD is engaged in various activities beyond producing and sponsoring the presidential debates. Its staff prepares educational materials and conducts research to improve the quality of debates. Further, the CPD provides technical assistance to emerging democracies and others interested in establishing debate traditions in their countries.

Finally, the CPD coordinates post-debate symposia and research after many of its presidential forums. The CPD was founded in by Paul Kirk and Frank Fahrenkopf in response to two studies conducted after the election by Georgetown University Center for Strategic and International Studies and the Harvard University Institute of Politics on the presidential election process and the value of debates.

Georgetown and Harvard recommended general election debates become a standard part of the electoral process. The CPD has also engaged in international work, providing assistance to foreign countries on the production of debates, candidate negotiations, and voter education.

The following table provides an overview of the date, location, and host in each scheduled general election debate. The CPD's criteria for debate qualification has varied since Until , a multi-factor set of criteria was used to determine "evidence of national organization, signs of national newsworthiness and competitiveness, and indicators of national public enthusiasm or concern, to determine whether a candidate had a realistic chance of election.

In , the CPD adopted 15 percent support in national polling as a qualifying threshold. In , the CPD applied three standards to its selection criteria: constitutional eligibility, ballot access, and electoral support. Between and , a single moderator was used in all debates. Two moderators were used in one of the presidential debates. Moderators were chosen by the CPD based on the following three criteria: [2].

Several debate formats have been used throughout the years, including town meetings, seated discussions at a table, and debates segmented by issue. The sites for debates are selected via a bidding process, in which interested institutions submit proposals to host the debates. Since the CPD's founding in , businessman Ross Perot and his running mate, James Stockdale, have been the only third-party or independent candidates to participate in a presidential or vice presidential general election debate.

Several lawsuits and complaints have been filed against the CPD alleging the organization improperly barred third parties from the debates through violations of Federal Election Commission FEC rules and constitutional and antitrust law. Between and , a lawsuit was filed against the CPD in every presidential election cycle but Noteworthy lawsuits since include the following actions:. The following chart shows the date, participants, venue, and moderators for previous presidential and vice presidential debates coordinated by the CPD.

Candidates marked with VP are vice presidential candidates. Candidates marked with I are independents. As of September , the commission's leadership was as follows: [1].

Presidents Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan were also listed as honorary co-chairs. The following organizations and individuals were national sponsors between and [19]. About 67 percent of those who voted in said that the presidential debates between Barack Obama D and John McCain R helped them choose which candidate to vote for. Nearly 80 percent of Americans watched at least some portion of the debates, and 41 percent watched them all. Between and , an average of 64 percent of voters found the debates helpful.

Since , the number of American's who found the presidential debates helpful in the decision-making process has fluctuated from 70 percent in to 41 percent in One is when the candidates are polling very closely.

Another is when voters have "unresolved questions about the personal character of one, or both, of the candidates. Even when debates have affected voter preferences in past elections, they have only impacted polling numbers by a few points. After the debate, he dropped to 47 percent. His lead increased from 49 percent, prior to the second debate, to 50 percent after the debate. There have been some exceptions to this trend, however.

In , for example, Bill Clinton 's D numbers dropped by 6 percent between the first debate and after the third debate. Anderson, whose candidacy was seen to pose more of a threat to Carter than to Republican challenger Ronald Reagan who later beat Carter. In , Frank J. Fahrenkopf Jr. Thus was the Commission on Presidential Debates born before the election with the sponsorship of the two major parties. Your guide to the election in California. Neuman said in a statement at the time.

That was the end of the league hosting presidential debates. The new, major-party-sponsored Commission on Presidential Debates would serve that role for the next three decades and continues today.

Over the decades, groups including the Green and Libertarian parties have filed multiple legal challenges against the Commission on Presidential Debates, deploying various legal arguments that basically say the same thing: The debate process is exclusionary of third-party candidates, and therefore structurally biased to favor the Democratic and Republican parties.

But neither the courts nor the Federal Election Commission have been receptive to those challenges. Ridings and Kenneth Wollack. After leaving the RNC in , Fahrenkopf was a lobbyist for the American casino industry between and Ridings is a former journalist and former president of the League of Women Voters. Wollack served as an executive for the National Democratic Institute between and , and previously was a legislative director for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and wrote about foreign affairs for the Los Angeles Times.

The board, which includes a mix of Republicans, Democrats and journalists, also includes former Sens. John C. She said Trump lost the trade war with China and , manufacturing jobs. She said Biden saved the auto industry. Harris said Trump disbanded the office responsible for monitoring pandemics.

She said Trump made America unsafe through a unilateral and isolationist foreign policy. She said Trump insulted and did not care about service members. Harris said President Lincoln waited until after his re-election to fill a Supreme Court vacancy that occurred 27 days before the presidential election.

She said Trump should also wait. She said Trump had not appointed a Black judge to a lifetime appointment on the courts of appeal. She said implicit bias existed in law enforcement. Harris said Trump has openly attempted to suppress the vote.

Mike Pence said Trump suspended all travel from China in response to the coronavirus pandemic and saved hundreds of thousands of lives. He said he believed the U. Pence said Trump surged resources to states with high fatality rates.

He said Trump trusted Americans to make decisions about their own health. Pence said Harris was undermining public confidence in a vaccine. He said the Obama administration failed during the swine flu pandemic and were lucky that it was less lethal than COVID Pence said Trump paid millions of dollars in property and payroll taxes.

He said Trump had added back Pence said Biden wanted to ban fracking. He said the United States reduced CO2 emissions through innovation rather than mandates. Pence said the United States lost , manufacturing jobs when Biden was vice president. He said Harris put her environmental agenda ahead of American workers by opposing the United States—Mexico—Canada trade agreement.

He said he was pro-life. He said the Trump administration stood behind the separation of powers and a nine-seat Supreme Court. He said Harris did nothing for criminal justice reform in California.

He said Democrats had spent the past three years trying to overturn the results of the election. Pence said universal mail-in voting created the opportunity for fraud. It was divided into minute segments on the following six topics: [7]. Fox News' Chris Wallace , the debate's moderator, selected the topics. The University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana , was originally scheduled to host the event but withdrew on July 27, , in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

This section includes highlights for each presidential candidate with a focus on policy. Joe Biden discussed the Supreme Court vacancy, coronavirus pandemic, economy, race and violence, climate change, and election integrity.

Biden said the Supreme Court vacancy should be filled after the election to give voters a say. On healthcare, Biden said only people who qualified for Medicaid would be automatically enrolled in a public health option.

He said Trump had no healthcare plan. He said Trump was irresponsible with his handling of masks. He said schools and businesses were not supported to reopen safely.

He said Trump would be the first president to leave office with fewer jobs than when he came in. He said the Obama administration inherited the worst economy and fixed it, while Trump blew a booming economy. Biden said there was systemic injustice and called for increased funding for community policing. He said violent crime has increased under the Trump administration.

Biden discussed the military service of his son, Beau, and the drug addiction recovery of his other son, Hunter. Biden said his plan would create thousands of green jobs and lead to net-zero carbon emissions by He said the plan was not the Green New Deal. Biden said Trump was afraid of mail-in voting. Donald Trump discussed the Supreme Court vacancy, coronavirus pandemic, economy, race and violence, climate change, and election integrity.

He said Republicans had the right to nominate her because they won the last election. He said Biden supported socialist medicine. Trump said he signed an executive order that would reduce prescription drug prices. He said a vaccine could be available sooner but politics was delaying it. He criticized strict shutdowns in Democratic-run states and said Biden would shut down the country. Trump said he paid millions in federal income tax in and As a businessman, Trump said he did not want to pay taxes and used tax credits and depreciation.

Trump said the Obama administration had the slowest economic recovery since , while he brought back manufacturing and , jobs. He said he had support from military leaders and law enforcement groups across the country. Trump said he ended racial sensitivity training because it was racist. Trump said increases in crime across the country were a party issue.

When asked if he would condemn white supremacist and militia groups, Trump said sure. He said the Proud Boys should stand back and stand by and that someone should do something about Antifa. Trump said he created the greatest economy and lowest unemployment numbers in history prior to COVID He said that he will have appointed federal judges.

Trump attributed West Coast wildfires to poor forest management. He said he rolled back the Obama Clean Power Plan because it drove up energy prices.