Former President Donald Trump’s threat to skip the first Republican presidential debate, scheduled for Aug. 23, 2023, may be a sign that candidate debates will be the next casualty in the highly polarized political environment in the United States.
For Trump, the leading contender for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, refusing to participate in a debate is nothing new. In 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, he skipped a general election debate because it was moved online.
As is common for incumbent presidents, Joe Biden will not participate in Democratic primary debates, even though he is being challenged by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose support polls at 14%, and author Marianne Williamson. Her polling average is at 5%, which was the polling threshold for Democratic presidential candidates in 2020. The Democratic National Committee is not sponsoring presidential debates this election cycle, and Biden has ignored calls from Kennedy and Williamson to debate.
But Trump and Biden aren’t the only candidates in recent years to nix debate participation. In 2022, fewer U.S. Senate and gubernatorial candidates agreed to debate their opponents than in previous election cycles. In fact, on the statewide level, the number of candidates taking part in debates has been declining since at least 2016.
The reason they are reluctant is because they are simply afraid they will fail based on their history before the media if that is the case then they should not have the job the won the people vote for should be the candidates. And wish them all good luck may the best win. It is the American way.