No audience? Here's who will be in the room for the first presidential debate

The two oldest U.S. presidential candidates ever to run will meet face-to-face in Atlanta on June 27 for a televised debate unlike any other. One accuses his rival of being a danger to democracy, while the other mocks his opponent as being senile, even though there’s only a three-year age difference.

Democratic incumbent President Joe Biden, 81, and GOP frontrunner and former President Donald Trump, 78, are in a dead heat in national opinion polls with fewer than five months until the Nov. 5 election.

But the rules for Thursday’s debate are a little different than past years: for one, there won’t be a live studio audience. That could pose problems for both candidates, particularly for Trump, who draws energy from a boisterous crowd.

President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, and Biden's wife, Jill Biden after the first 2020 campaign debate at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, on September 29, 2020.

It’s just one of many new rules imposed on the CNN debate, along with muted microphones and two commercial breaks during which the candidates will not be allowed to interact with their campaign staff.

How the candidates will perform on stage without an audience remains to be seen as both are out of practice. Trump refused to participate in the 2024 Republican primary debates, which did him no harm as he easily beat all his rivals for the party’s nomination. Biden has not been on the debate stage in almost four years.

Party of four

Trump and Biden will be the only candidates at the debate as third-party candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. did not meet CNN’s qualifying standards to join the stage by Thursday’s deadline. The moderators, CNN anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, will also be in the room.

Kennedy had received at least 15% in only three accepted polls and, by CNN’s tally, had qualified for the ballot in just six states. That would not be enough to win the presidency.

U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen, D-Maryland, said on Sunday that the lack of a live audience would be “an advantage to the American people” and allow the candidates to focus on the issues.

Reuters contributed to the reporting of this story.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: No audience? Here's who will be in the room for the first presidential debate