The first of two planned presidential debates will take place Thursday, June 27, at 9 p.m. on CNN. Breaking from past debates which were put on by the Commission on Presidential Debates, Thursday's debate will be aired by CNN and moderated by CNN's Jake Tapper and Dana Bush in Atlanta. NPR will also begin airing special coverage of the debate at 9 p.m., which you can hear live on Michigan Public (91.7 Ann Arbor/Detroit, 104.1 Grand Rapids, 91.3 Port Huron, 89.7 Lansing, 91.1 Flint), and streaming at michiganpublic.org and our app. Michigan Public's Zoe Clark will join a special episode of The Middle with Jeremy Hobson at 11 p.m., which you can also hear on Michigan Public and michiganpublic.org.
With the change in host also comes changes to the format of the debate. CNN reports that there will be no studio audience during the 90-minute debate. There will be two commercial breaks. Both candidates will appear at one of two uniform podiums, and their position on stage will be determined by a coin toss. There will also not be opening statements by the candidates. NPR reports that "candidate microphones will be cut off and muted when they're not answering questions or given rebuttal time."
Visit CNN for additional rules the candidates will follow during the debate.
According to the latest NPR/PBS News/Marist poll, 6 in 10 survey respondents said they plan to watch Thursday's debate. Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, told NPR that "most voters have decided who they will vote for in the presidential election."
But even with that being said, NPR reports that 9% of respondents to that poll said they "haven’t yet made up their mind" who they’ll vote for, while 25% have a "good idea" who'll they'll vote for, but could still change their mind.
The survey had a margin of error of nearly 4 percentage points.
You can watch the live stream of the debate in the video above.
