The final presidential debate Oct. 22 was the second time President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden directly faced each other. Their first debate Sept. 29 was one filled with heated interruptions. 

After Trump interjected Biden 71 times and Biden interrupted Trump 22 times during the first event, the Commission on Presidential Debates added a new rule, granting muting abilities to the candidates’ microphones for a portion of the final debate. The candidates were each allowed two minutes of uninterrupted speech at the beginning of each segment, after which both candidates were allowed to speak freely while moderator Kristen Welker of NBC News directed the conversation.

“It was sad that they actually had to (mute the candidates’ microphones), but it was clearly something that needed to be done after the free-for-all, really embarrassing display that was the first debate,” said Chapman University law professor Marisa Cianciarulo at the post-debate discussion hosted by Civic Engagement.

Vivienne Ayres, a freshman broadcast journalism and documentary major, felt the second debate played out in a much more civil manner than the previous. However, she said at the post-debate discussion the Oct. 15 town hall format that replaced the second presidential debate was more productive.

Fred Smoller, a campaigns and elections professor at Chapman, believes that dialogue from the presidential candidates was only effective when compared to the initial one. 

“The first debate was so terrible and it set the bar so low that this was actually just an average presidential debate,” he said during the Oct. 22 event.

Cianciarulo believes the debate did not bring about clarity on the issues, but rather demonstrated more name-calling and blaming than actual discourse. With over 59 million Americans having already cast their vote for the 2020 election, Cianciarulo is skeptical of how useful the final debate really was to voters.

“At this point everyone is pretty well aware of the candidates’ positions on topics,” Cianciarulo said. “I’m not quite sure of the value of these debates.”

The debate at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, covered issues including the response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, national security and international interference in U.S. affairs, immigration policy, race relations and climate change. Here are the highlights from the night.

COVID-19

The pandemic, a key issue in this election, was the first topic the candidates discussed. Trump noted his own recovery from the coronavirus and stated that a vaccine would be ready and available as soon as a few weeks, a claim that overstates the timeline for vaccine readiness. 

“We can’t close up our nation or you’re not going to have a nation,” Trump said at the debate. “(The virus) will go away; we're rounding the corner.”

Biden attacked the president’s response to the virus, which has exceeded 8.7 million cases and 225,000 deaths. He also emphasized the need to provide schools and businesses with the resources to reopen safely. 

“Anyone who’s responsible for that many deaths should not remain as president of the United States of America,” Biden said.

Racial inequality

While Biden addressed racial inequities, Trump attacked his support of the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, arguing that it caused mass incarceration that disproportionately hurt Black Americans. Biden acknowledged the bill was a mistake during the debate and shared his goals to reverse its continued effects.

Trump expressed that no other president with the exception of Abraham Lincoln had done more for the BIPOC communities, calling himself the “least racist person in the room.” 

Election interference

As there were only 12 days until the general election at the time, Trump and Biden discussed election security and foreign influence. The candidates’ conversation on electoral involvement from Russia and Iran quickly devolved into a back-and-forth attack on each other’s integrity. Biden attacked the president’s relationship with the Russian president Vladimir Putin, accusing Trump of compromising American interests due to his relationship with Russia. 

“There has been nobody tougher to Russia than Donald Trump,” Trump retaliated during the debate. 

Trump’s attacks on Biden addressed the former vice president’s alleged ties to Ukraine through his son, Hunter Biden. Trump accused the family of corruption during Biden’s term as vice president. Biden denied the allegations, which have been investigated and concluded that Biden committed no wrongdoing.