How Presidential Debates Work

Spontaneity is perhaps the most important factor in a debate. Without spontaneous responses culled through follow-up questions, debates can quickly devolve into well-rehearsed press releases spouted off by the candidates on television. Debates are also meant to be nonpartisan. An ideal debate would be open to all candidates who qualify, and the format should be fair to all candidates participating. This means neutrality, the division of time, the moderation and the type of format all hold vital importance to presidential debates.

Selecting a neutral site for a debate can be difficult. No location can be selected in a candidate's home state or hometown. Since presidential debates are often held at colleges and universities, any of the candidates' alma maters are out. Most tiny towns are out of the running: The Commission on Presidential Debates' (CPD) minimum requirements — like an air-conditioned debate hall of at least 15,000 square feet (1,393 square meters) and at least 3,000 available hotel rooms — generally ensure small towns won't land a debate. The prestige associated with hosting a debate is such that even places passed over in favor of others still gush over having been considered [source: The Commission on Presidential Debates].

To qualify for a CPD debate, a candidate has to have a statistically feasible chance of being able to win a majority of the votes available in the Electoral College. The formula for determining this chance is based on the number of states with ballots on which the candidate's name appears — the number of states a candidate could win simply by appearing on the ballot. The candidate also must have at least 15 percent support among the national electorate, according to five national public opinion surveying organizations, before the debates begin [source: The Commission on Presidential Debates].

A fair division of time among the candidates is tradition in debates. Candidates are provided with an equal amount of time to give opening and closing statements about the issues and what the audience has heard during the debate. It's the time in between that can be divided in different ways. In some cases, time may be evenly split strictly through allowing candidates an allotted amount of time to respond to questions. Other formats allow for rebuttals, especially when an issue is slanted toward one candidate or another. The rarest division of time allows candidates to cross-examine one another on an issue.

There are a few established formats for debates. Under the moderator format, a debate is hosted by a single person (sometimes two), usually a TV journalist, who poses questions to the candidates, directs them to rebut and manages response times. Usually, the candidates stand at podiums across from each other. Sometimes, they sit at the same table with a moderator in between, to encourage a more informal exchange. In the panelist format, the single moderator is replaced with several people. A town hall meeting format has members of the audience asking questions. This format is meant to create the most spontaneous atmosphere of the three types.

For 2024, there are currently two "general election" presidential debates scheduled, the first to be hosted by CNN on June 27 and the second to be hosted by ABC News on September 10. According to Ballotpedia: