That’s A Wrap
The final presidential debate of 2020 is officially over, and the change in format (candidates were muted while their rival had the floor) seems to have paid dividends.
It was a far more substantial debate than the first one, and overall much more civil, too. However, as we said at the outset of this evening, Trump needed to mount a big comeback tonight, and it's unclear whether his performance will give him the kind of surge he needs.
Remember that he’s significantly behind Biden in the polls — nearly 10 points nationally, and by smaller margins in a number of key swing states. Of course, we’ve got 12 days to go until Election Day, but with millions of people having already voted, it might be even harder for Trump to mount a comeback this year.
Scroll back through to relive the live blog in all its chronological glory, but if that’s too much work, here are some of the team’s headlines from the evening, followed by their big takeaways.
- Perry: Biden Was Blah, Trump Wasn't As Bad As Before
- Meredith: In Final Debate, Trump, Biden Do No Harm
- Geoffrey: Trump Interrupted Less, But May Not Have Found A Way To Shake Up The Race
- Kaleigh: A Restrained Trump Is Still Trump
- Chris: Changing The Tone Doesn't Change The Election
- Maggie: I'm Sorry I Can’t Come Up With A Headline I'm Still Internally Screaming About The Stream Of Inaccurate Information In The Climate Change Section
- Galen: Policy Made A More Robust Appearance In The Final Debate, Clearing A Low Bar
- Nathaniel: No Clear Winner In Debate Is Good News For Biden
- Micah: The "Come On!" Debate
- Amelia: The Final Presidential Debate Was Less Loud Than The Last One, But Still Probably Left Many Americans Asking, How Many Days Till Election Day?
- Meena: Will We Remember President Trump’s Final Presidential Debate?
Watch our post-debate reaction podcast here:
https://youtu.be/QjBaPRnki6Y