JMU Debate Watch

“The evidence overwhelmingly indicates that the most important debate, at least in terms of information acquisition, is the first debate … ” -Thomas Holbrook, “Political Learning from Presidential Debates”

Presidential debates are an opportunity to hear candidates’ positions on and approaches to different issues (read an overview of how debates matter here). The first 2020 presidential debate will take place on Tuesday, September 29, from 9 to 10:30 p.m. ET. It will be held at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, and moderated by Fox News host Chris Wallace.

How to watch the debates

Livestream on CSPAN https://www.c-span.org/debates/. The debates will be broadcast on all major networks and their corresponding streaming channels.

Join JMU Community Livestream Discussions 

Join a discussion with the JMU community on Discord during and after the debates: https://discord.com/invite/sYEC27H.Once you are verified in Discord, look for the JMU channel.

Join conversations on social media using #JMUDebateWatch & #DukesVote

Topics for 9/29 Debate:

• COVID-19
• The Economy
• The Supreme Court
• Race and Violence in our Cities
• The Integrity of the Election

Background on Debate Topics

Below are some key facts and information to consider as you watch the debate and hear responses from the candidates.

COVID-19

• As of September 2020,  there have been 7.1 million reported cases of COVID-19 in the United States, with about 204,000 deaths, especially impacting elderly, minority, and low-income populations.
• There is discrepancy on how masks and quarantine phases should be enforced, or if they should be enforced at all. There is also discrepancy on if regulations should be enforced at the state or federal level, with many states differing on how they should control their own outbreaks and inter-state travel.
• A Pew Research Center survey found that 62% of voters say the Coronavirus outbreak and the response to it is a major factor in who they will vote for.
• In regards to a vaccine for this virus, the New York Times has reported that we are not likely to get one until next year, according to health officials and companies supporting the vaccine trials. Also, this vaccine will be in very short supply for the first few months following its release to the public, according to CDC Director Dr. Redfield.
• A new Pew Research Center survey finds that, overall, one-in-four adults have had trouble paying their bills since the coronavirus outbreak started, a third have dipped into savings or retirement accounts to make ends meet, and about one-in-six have borrowed money from friends or family or gotten food from a food bank.

The Economy

• The COVID-19pandemic has caused massive economic disruption, and the government’s response has pushed the federal budget further out of balance than it’s been in nearly eight decades.
• In August, the unemployment rate was still at about 13.6 million, with many job layoffs and closed businesses.
• Earlier this year, some people received a stimulus check, and were allowed to push off loans and payments. Currently, some who are still unemployed are struggling to pay rent or other bills.
• According to economists, globally we have entered a “short recession,” which may be recoverable if COVID-19 cases begin to come down.
• The U.S. Senate considered giving another stimulus check before election day, but it did not receive enough votes.
• According to a Pew Research Center survey, 79% of voters this election say that the economy will be a very important factor in their decision for who to vote for.

Supreme Court 

• Supreme court judges are nominated by the President and can be confirmed or denied by the Senate. A court hearing is held by the Senate to discuss the nominee’s records and qualifications. Nominees are often law school graduates who were previously serving in a circuit court.
• As of 2020, the number of Senate votes needed to confirm a nominee is 51. The number of people serving on the bench is decided by the president and Senate, and nine is not stated in the Constitution or any formal document.
• The number of nominees each president has appointed has declined throughout history, with many early presidents nominating as many as nine or more. The last six presidents have all nominated five or less.  Through the early 20th century, the nomination was debated only within a small committee.
• The Senate hasn’t confirmed an “election year nominee since 1932.”
• At least 52% of the American public wants to wait until after the election to fill the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat.
• In 2016, the Senate pushed to wait until after the 2016 Election to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia. Some see the parallels between these two situations, as at the time, the 2016 nomination for Merrick Garland was not confirmed, and former President Barack Obama was not able to appoint a judge.
• Once a judge is voted on by the Senate and becomes a member of the Supreme Court, they serve until they die, which is why the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is under a lot of controversy in whether it should be filled before the election or not, as it has lasting impact for decades to come.

Race and Violence in our Cities

• About 93% of racial justice protests in the US since the death of George Floyd have been peaceful and nondestructive, according to a new report by ACLED.
• America is seeing a new wave of protests since a Kentucky grand jury brought no charges against Louisville police for Breonna Taylor’s death for Breonna Taylor.
• Support for racial protests has varied greatly, particularly among different racial and ethnic groups. In July, the majority of Americans supported the protests, but by September, that number had fallen.
• The Pew Research Center found that as racial justice protests have intensified following the shooting of Jacob Blake, public support for the Black Lives Matter movement has declined. A majority of U.S. adults (55%) now express at least some support for the movement, down from 67% in June amid nationwide demonstrations sparked by the death of George Floyd. The share who say they strongly support the movement stands at 29%, down from 38% three months ago.
• A survey done by the University of Massachusetts found that 51% of American adults believe that African Americans are treated less fairly by police than whites in their interaction with police, with 41% stating that each race is treated the same by police, showing a slight majority of Americans believing the country is not fair racially in regards to policing.

The Integrity of the Election

• Tens of millions of Americans intend to vote by mail this year.
• Numerous independent studies and government reviews find voter fraud extremely rare in all forms, including mail-in voting.
• Forty-six states offer access to some form of mail voting to all voters, according to a recent report from the nonprofit Open Source Election Technology Institute. Forty-four states have signature verification protocols for mail ballots.
• Nine states and Washington, D.C., will automatically mail ballots to voters — but only to those who are registered.
•  A recent Pew Research Center survey found that more than 70% of Americans think any voter who wants to vote by mail should be able to do so.
• The Director of the FBI, Christopher Wray, recently testified before the Senate that there has been no visible coordinated voter fraud effort.
•  The Brennan Center for Justice recently published a paper combining multiple studies by various research institutes, newspapers, and government investigations and found that incidences of voter fraud are extremely rare between 0.00004 percent and 0.0009 percent. While instances of voter fraud have occured in extremely low numbers, they are generally far too small to have any impact on the results of an election.
• Numerous studies have found little evidence that mail-in ballots help one party over another. Of the 16 states where more than half of voters voted by mail in the last presidential election, President Trump won nine. Republican states like Iowa, Missouri and Alabama have expanded mail-in ballots this year.

Discussion Questions

1. What did you learn by watching the debate or joining in the discussion?
2. How did media coverage influence your assessment of the debate or of the candidates’ performance?
3. How did online conversations and social media posts influence your assessment of the debates or of the candidates’ performance?
4. Did you learn anything new about either candidate or the topics they discussed, and if so what?
5. What was your biggest takeaway from the debate?

HOW TO VOTE

Early voting has already begun in Virginia! Check your status at https://vote.elections.virginia.gov/thirdparty/DukesVote. Out-of-state students, visit https://jmu.turbovote.org/. You can vote early in-person, vote absentee through ballot, or vote in-person on Election Day. you may choose to vote at your permanent residence or at your JMU address. If you are registered to vote in Harrisonburg City, the registrar’s office is at City Hall at 409 S Main St., Harrisonburg, VA 22801. If you are registered in Rockingham County, visit the registrar’s office in the county administration building at 20 E. Gay Street. For absentee voting, the deadline to request a ballot is October 23rd, and it must be postmarked by Election Day to be counted. You may change your address for voting by October 13th if you have any reason (college, Covid-19 displacement, etc.).

More information about voting and frequently asked questions can be found at the Dukes Vote website: https://www.jmu.edu/vote/voting-guide.shtml.