TOLEDO, Ohio —
President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump will face off in the first presidential debate of the 2024 election season on Thursday.
The debate is happening earlier than normal, something that political analyst Sam Nelson said may impact viewership.
The debate is being hosted by CNN in Atlanta, Ga., and will not have an audience. It will start at 9 p.m. ET.
"I think that it's probably going to be difficult for Trump, for instance, who feeds off the energy of an audience, who also likes to try to physically dominate the other candidates. We saw this in Republican primary debates in previous elections," said Nelson, an associate professor at the University of Toledo.
The microphones will also be muted while the other is speaking, so the candidates will not be able to talk over each other.
"They won't be able to interrupt because their mic will be dead," Nelson said. "Maybe we'll hear something in the background or something like that, but I think it's going to make it much simpler for the candidates to give the answers they've been preparing ahead of time."
As for the questions that will be asked, Nelson thinks there will be three main issues brought up.
"We may get a big Supreme Court opinion tomorrow morning right before the debate on presidential immunity or on abortion in Idaho," he said.
Nelson said the economy and foreign policy questions regarding Gaza and Ukraine will be topics of interest, too.
Questions about Trump's trial may not be directly asked, though, but the candidates can use other answers to address it," he said.
"Biden may very well have some ways in which answering questions about law and order or about fitness for office or character, things like that," Nelson said. "He may be able to bring in Trump's convictions. Trump may take opportunities to attack the judge, to attack the prosecutor in that case."
The candidates will next debate on Sept. 10.
A vice presidential debate is expected to happen later during the summer, too.