Centre College Political Science Professor Benjamin Knoll says Tuesday night’s presidential debate reflected the current polarizing political environment with candidates speaking to their bases.
The hour and a half nationally broadcast event featured a great amount of back and forth interruptions. Knoll said the Commission on Presidential Debates could limit open mic time. “It’s not open mic for both of the candidates at all times. Instead, we’re going to shut the microphone off when it’s not your time to speak and then allow the other candidate to be able to speak. And then we’ll turn the microphone back on for both of you when it’s time to have the back and forth or something like that,” said Knoll
Knoll says another option would be a joint news conference format where each candidate is given 20 minutes to lay out positions and then a period of questions and answers. The Centre professor expects the next debate featuring vice-presidential candidates to be more traditional, but he says the next presidential debate could be similar to the first one.
Here's the entire interview with Centre College Political Science Professor Benjamin Knoll:
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