In a crowded field the debates give candidates a chance to stand out. In a smaller field in the general election they don't do much as by then most people know where the candidates stand already and don't need to hear them articulate it. In fact there have been several debates where a candidate did terribly but still won the election. That said in close elections a debate performance can make a difference, usually for the negative if a candidate has a bad debate. For example in this primary Joe Biden's poor debate performances have probably been the biggest factor in his drop. One other thing about debates and this election is showing that more is that debates are a fundraising opportunity and we've seen that in the last two debates where candidates have boasted how much money they raised off of the debates.
One thing I'd add, at least for this go-round, the debate qualifications has been used as a viability proxy. Candidates who struggled to qualify for debates got branded as not viable, which makes polling and fundraising harder, which makes qualifying for the next debate harder in a vicious cycle. It has perhaps raised the barrier to entry too high for good late entrants (unless you have scads of money), but it's had a pretty effective winnowing effect on a field everyone complained was too wide.
I sort of agree and sort of disagree with this article. I think Biden should debate Trump, however, I think they should have one debate and have a fact-checker present. Hell, Trump can choose Joe Rogan to moderate if he wants...as long as the fact checker is allowed to check both candidates facts immediately after a point is discussed. https://pressrun.media/p/why-trump-doesnt-deserve-a-biden Why Trump doesn't deserve a Biden debate Stop normalizing him More at the link above
I agree 100%. If the candidates were fact checked during the debates, then lying wouldn't suit their purpose to hide the facts and deceive the naive for a vote. I think a fact check on Trump is necessary, because lying and deceiving is his game.
Between Rogan & Trump, the fact-checker would be so busy, Biden wouldn't even get a chance to talk. They'd probably need an entire team of fact checkers.
