Introduction
Ask students if they saw, heard, or read about the debate between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden on October 22, 2020.
If yes:
- What struck you most about the debate?
- Did you learn new information in the debate?
- Did the candidates address the issues that are most important to you? Why or why not?
Whether students saw the debate or not, ask:
- What are some key issues for you in this election?
Share with students that the debate on October 22 was the second and final debate of the 2020 presidential election season. It was moderated by NBC News reporter Kristen Welker.
While the second presidential debate was more substantial than the first, responses were limited to two minutes, which is a short time to discuss complicated issues. Both candidates’ responses were often reduced to catchword talking points. Both sidestepped questions, and many of their responses were simply attacks on the other candidate, rather than a helpful discussion of the speaker’s track record, principles, or priorities. Fact-checkers reported that there were numerous falsehoods and distortions in their responses.
Below is a summary of four key issues in the debate: the Covid pandemic, healthcare, racism, and the climate crisis. Each issue includes some written background, quotes from the candidates, and discussion questions. You might also consider having students either read the relevant transcript sections or watch relevant video clips from the debate. Times are included for each issue.
Issue 1: The Pandemic
Context
Although the coronavirus arrived in China in late December, the first confirmed case in the United States appeared in Washington state on January 19, 2020, and the first Covid death occurred on February 6. By that time, the World Health Organization had already declared a “public health emergency of international concern,” and cases had been reported around the world.
Some countries acted quickly to contain virus. Vietnam for example, restricted travel, closed schools, and initiated contact tracing in January. By October they had only four hundred cases and no deaths at all. New Zealand also began its measures in January with a national coordination center and travel restrictions. By March they had committed to total elimination of Covid and instituted a total lockdown. By late October, the country saw only twenty-two deaths.
By comparison, the U.S. response to the pandemic response was slow and halting. Federal coordination was limited. Much of the response came from state and local entities, which enacted restrictions to limit the spread of the virus, but with varying degrees of strictness. In some cases, states competed to acquire the PPE (personal protective equipment) needed to protect people from the virus. The U.S. has more Covid deaths that any other country in the world (231,000 by the end of October 2020). In addition, the U.S. has suffered a deeper economic blow due to Covid than many other developed countries.
Optional:
- Read the debate transcript on the pandemic (minute 1 to minute 20)
- Watch the discussion on the pandemic (time 1:44 to 21:35)
Debate Question
The country is heading into a dangerous new phase. More than 40,000 Americans are in the hospital tonight with COVID, including record numbers here in Tennessee. And since the two of you last shared a stage, 16,000 Americans have died from COVID. So please be specific: how would you lead the country during this next stage of the coronavirus crisis?
Responses
President Trump:
So, as you know, more 2.2 million people, modeled out, were expected to die. We closed up the greatest economy in the world in order to fight this horrible disease that came from China. It's a worldwide pandemic. It’s all over the world.
You see the spikes in Europe and many other places right now. If you notice, the mortality rate is down, 85%. The excess mortality rate is way down, and much lower than almost any other country. And we're fighting it and we're fighting it hard. There is a spike. There was a spike in Florida, and it's now gone. There was a very big spike in Texas, it's now gone. There was a very big spike in Arizona, it's now gone. And there were some spikes and surges in other places. They will soon be gone. We have a vaccine that's coming, it's ready. It's going to be announced within weeks, and it's going to be delivered.
Former Vice President Biden:
220,000 Americans dead. If you hear nothing else I say tonight, hear this. Anyone who's responsible for not taking control — in fact, not saying, I take no responsibility, initially — anyone who is responsible for that many deaths should not remain as President of the United States of America. We're in a situation where there are thousands of deaths a day, a thousand deaths a day. And there are over 70,000 new cases per day. Compared to what's going on in Europe, as the New England Medical Journal said, they're starting from a very low rate. We're starting from a very high rate. The expectation is we'll have another 200,000 Americans dead by the time, between now and the end of the year. If we just wore these masks — the President's own advisors told them — we could save 100,000 lives. And we're in a circumstance where the President, thus far, still has no plan.
What I would do is make sure we have everyone encouraged to wear a mask, all the time. I would make sure we move in the direction of rapid testing, investing in rapid testing. I would make sure that we set up national standards as to how to open up schools and open up businesses so they can be safe, and give them the wherewithal and financial resources to be able to do that.
Discuss
- Critique the moderator’s question. How would you have asked the question?
- Critique President Trump’s response. Was it truthful? Did he answer the question? What was persuasive in his answer? What do you disagree with?
- Critique Biden’s response. Was it truthful? Did he answer the question? What was persuasive in his answer? What did you disagree with?
- What essential information was missing from the candidates’ responses?
- What questions do you have about this issue and their responses?
Issue #2: Healthcare
Context
The United States spends far more on healthcare than any other country in the world. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, health costs per capita in the U.S. ($11,000 in 2019) are about double those of other developed countries ($4,600 in the U.K.; $6,600 in Germany; $5,400 in Canada). And yet the U.S. ranks low among industrialized countries in health outcomes. For instance, compared to other wealthy countries, our infant mortality rates are high, life expectancy is low, and access to healthcare is poor.
About 28 million Americans do not have health insurance – about one in ten people. And those who are insured often pay hefty sums for insurance premiums, co-pays, deductibles, and other expenses. The healthcare system is a complicated and confusing amalgam of private insurance and public insurance.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA or “Obamacare”) was designed to provide some minimal coverage for those without insurance coverage. Its passage led to historic gains in health insurance coverage. However, the number of people who are uninsured is high, and rising. And even with ACA, most people face a panoply of medical costs that could include conditions not covered by their insurance (e.g. eye care, dental care, pre-existing conditions, drugs, mental health) as well as a portion of the insurance costs and/or part of each bill. Millions of people cannot afford the medical care they need.
Republicans have fiercely opposed the ACA, especially its “individual mandate,” which required that all U.S. residents either have health insurance or pay a penalty. The mandate was intended to help keep the premiums for ACA policies low by ensuring that more healthy people entered the health insurance market. In 2017, Republicans eliminated that penalty.
The rest of the developed world has some form of national health insurance in which everyone is covered, and the costs are paid by the government through taxes. People in the United States have been fighting for universal public health insurance for a long time. During the 2016 and 2020 elections, support grew for “Medicare for All” (extending the public healthcare program for seniors to everyone). Polls show that 70 percent of voters support the idea.
Optional:
- Read the debate transcript on the healthcare discussion (minute 41 to minute 50)
- Watch the discussion on the healthcare discussion (time 42:45 to 51:30)
Debate Question
Over 20 million Americans get their health insurance through the Affordable Care Act. It's headed to the Supreme Court, and your administration, Mr. President, is advocating for the court to overturn it. If the Supreme Court does overturn that law, those 20 million Americans could lose their health insurance almost overnight. So what would you do if those people have their health insurance taken away?
Responses
President Trump
First of all, I've already done something that nobody thought was possible. Through the legislature, I terminated the individual mandate. That is the worst part of Obamacare, as we call it…. Now it's in court, because Obamacare is no good. But then I made a decision, ‘Run it as well as you can’ – to my people, great people – ‘Run it as well as you can.’ I could have gone the other route and made everybody very unhappy. They ran it. Premiums are down, everything's down.
Here's the problem. No matter how well you run it, it's no good. What we'd like to do is terminate it. We have the individual mandate done. I don't know that it's going to work. If we don't win, we will have to run it and we'll have Obamacare, but it will be better run. But it no longer is Obamacare. Because without the individual mandate, it is much different. Pre-existing conditions will always stay. What I would like to do is a much better health care, much better. We’ll always protect people with pre existing – so I'd like to terminate Obamacare, come up with a brand new beautiful healthcare.
Former Vice President Biden
My response is people deserve to have affordable health care – period. Period, period, period. And the Bidencare proposal will, in fact, provide for that affordable health care, lower premiums. What we're going to do is going to cost some money; it's going to cost over $750 billion over 10 years to do it. And they're going to have lower premiums, you can buy into the better plans, the cheaper plans, lower your premiums, deal with unexpected billing, and have your drug prices drop significantly. He keeps talking about it. He hasn't done a thing for anybody on health care, not a thing.
Pressed on whether he supported Medicare for All, Biden said:
The idea that I want to eliminate private insurance -- the reason why I had such a fight for, with 20 candidates for the nomination, was I support private insurance. That's why I did not – not one single person, private insurance, would lose their insurance under my plan, nor did they under Obamacare.
Discuss
- Critique the moderator’s question. How would you have asked the question?
- Critique President Trump’s response. Was it truthful? Did he answer the question? What was persuasive in his answer? What do you disagree with?
- Critique Biden’s response. Was it truthful? Did he answer the question? What was persuasive in his answer? What did you disagree with?
- What essential information was missing from the candidates’ responses?
- What questions do you have about this issue and their responses?
Issue #3: Racism
Context
Racism has shaped our society and led to enormous racial inequities in wealth, incomes, education, jobs, housing, healthcare, etc. The legacy of slavery and discrimination—both legal and nonlegal—is pervasive.
In recent years, the Black Lives Matter movement has focused national attention on the police killings of Black and brown people, from Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and Eric Garner to Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and many, many others. Hundreds of thousands of people have taken part in protests across the nation – not only against police violence, but for racial justice and an end to white supremacy. Black professional athletes, beginning with the NFL’s Colin Kaepernick, have contributed to the movement with their protests.
The protests have helped spur a national reckoning on race in the United States that has included a reexamination of the United States’ history, culture, systems and structures, and people’s personal lives and choices.
President Trump has characterized Black Lives Matter as a violent movement and encouraged a crackdown on the protests. In his debate response to a question about it, he touted his support of criminal justice reform – namely, his support for the First Step Act, a bipartisan federal sentencing and prison reform bill that takes modest steps to ease very punitive prison sentences at the federal level. In addition, Trump mentions his support for “opportunity zones,” which provide tax incentives to businesses in low-income neighborhoods.
In the debate, the moderator also asked Joe Biden about his role in writing the 1994 crime bill, which resulted in strict laws and the disproportionate imprisonment of African-Americans, many for non-violent drug crimes. Biden has apologized for portions of the legislation, but he has largely tried to play down his involvement.
Optional:
- Read the debate transcript on the racism discussion (minute 64 to minute 77)
- Watch the discussion on the racism discussion (time 1:04:21 to 1:18:13)
Debate Question
Let's talk about our next section, which is race in America. And I want to talk about the way Black and brown Americans experience race in this country. Part of that experience is something called “the talk.” It happens regardless of class and income – parents who feel they have no choice but to prepare their children for the chance that they could be targeted, including by the police, for no reason other than the color of their skin. Mr. Vice President, in the next two minutes, I want you to speak directly to these families. Do you understand why these parents fear for their children?
Responses
Former Vice President Joe Biden
… [A] Black parent, no matter how wealthy or how poor they are, has to teach their child, when you're walking down the street, don't have a hoodie on when you go across the street, making sure that you, in fact, if you get pulled over, just Yes or No sir, just hands on top of the wheel. Because you are in fact, the victim, whether you're a $300,000-a-year person, or someone who's on food stamps.
The fact of the matter is there is institutional racism in America. And we have always said we've never lived up to it. Do we hold these truths to be sovereign, are all men and women are created equal? Guess what – we have never ever lived up to it. We have constantly been moving the needle further and further between inclusion and exclusion. This is the first president come along and says that's the end of that. We're not going to do that anymore. We have to provide for economic opportunity, better education, better health care, better access to schooling, better access to opportunity to borrow money to start businesses. All the things we can do. And I've laid out a clear plan as to how to do those things. Just to give people a shot. It's about accumulating the ability to have wealth, as well as it is to be free from violence.
President Trump
Nobody has done more for the Black community than Donald Trump. And if you look, with the exception of Abraham Lincoln – possible exception, but the exception of Abraham Lincoln, nobody has done what I've done. Criminal justice reform, Obama and Joe didn't do it. I don't even think they tried because they had no chance at doing it….
Criminal justice reform, prison reform, opportunity zones with Tim Scott, a great senator from South Carolina. He came in with this incredible idea for opportunity zones. It’s one of the most successful programs. People don't talk about it. Tremendous investment is being made. Biggest beneficiary, the Black and Hispanic communities and then historically Black colleges and universities.
Discuss
- Critique the moderator’s question. How would you have asked the question?
- Critique President Trump’s response. Was it truthful? Did he answer the question? What was persuasive in his answer? What do you disagree with?
- Critique Biden’s response. Was it truthful? Did he answer the question? What was persuasive in his answer? What did you disagree with?
- What essential information was missing from the candidates’ responses?
- What questions do you have about this issue and their responses?
Issue #4: The Climate Crisis
Context
The climate crisis, including floods and fires and increased heat, and resulting loss of coast land, vast migration of uprooted people, loss of species and farmland are already in process, and the impacts are speeding up. To halt or reverse the amount of carbon in the earth’s atmosphere, scientists say we must eliminate coal, gas, and oil as energy sources. Young people have been at the forefront of the movement to make this enormous global transition.
But while the scientific community almost unanimously sees human-induced climate change as an emergency needing immediate and drastic action, the corporate and political worlds have been fighting to save the fossil fuel industries.
During Obama’s tenure, carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels and cement production fell by 11%. During Trump’s tenure, this trend continued but slowed down: Carbon emissions fell by 0.5%. However, the U.S. remains the world’s second biggest emitter and the number one historical emitter. The average American’s carbon footprint is twice that of a Chinese or EU citizen and eight times that of an Indian.
President Trump has led the charge to reverse any progress made in addressing the climate crisis. He is taking the United States out of the Paris Agreement, the climate change treaty agreed to by almost every other country in the world. His administration has made any number of moves to reduce regulations on carbon emissions and encourage the extraction of fossil fuels.
Optional:
- Read the debate transcript on the climate crisis (minute 77 to minute 86)
- Watch the discussion on the climate crisis (time 1:18:25 to 1:26:16).
Debate Question
You both have very different visions on climate change. President Trump, you say that environmental regulations have hurt jobs in the energy sector. Vice President Biden, you have said you see addressing climate change as an opportunity to create new jobs. For each of you, how would you both combat climate change and support job growth at the same time?
Responses
President Trump
So we have the trillion trees program, we have so many different programs. I do love the environment, but what I want the cleanest, crystal clear water, the cleanest air. We have the best, lowest number in carbon emissions, which is a big standard that I noticed Obama goes with all the time. Not Joe. I haven't heard him use the term because I'm not sure he knows what it represents or means, but I have heard Obama use it. And we have the best carbon emission numbers that we've had in 35 years…..
The Paris Accord, I took us out because we were going to have to spend trillions of dollars and we were treated very unfairly. When they put us in there, they did us a great disservice. They were going to take away our businesses. I will not sacrifice tens of millions of jobs, thousands and thousands of companies because of the Paris Accord. It was so unfair. China doesn't kick in until 2030. Russia goes back to a low standard and we kicked in right away. It would-- It would have been-- It would have destroyed our businesses. So, you ready? We have done an incredible job environmentally. We have the cleanest air, the cleanest water and the best carbon emission standards that we've seen in many, many years.
Former Vice President Biden
Climate change, climate warming, global warming is an existential threat to humanity. We have a moral obligation to deal with it. And we're told by all the leading scientists in the world that we don't have much time. We're going to pass the point of no return within the next eight to 10 years. Four years of this man eliminating all the regulations that were put in by us to clean up the climate, to clean up-- to limit the-- limit of admissions will put us in a position where we're going to be in real trouble.
Here's where we have a great opportunity, I was able to get both all the environmental organizations as well as labor, people worried about jobs, to support my climate plan. Because what it does, it will create millions of new, good-paying jobs. We're going to invest in, for example, 500,000 — 50,000, excuse me, 50,000 charging stations on our highways so that we can own the electric car market in the future. In the meantime, China's doing that. We're going to be in a position where we're going to see to it that we're going to take 4 million existing billion, buildings and 2 million existing homes and retrofit them so they don't leak as much energy, saving hundreds of millions of barrels of oil in the process and creating a significant number of jobs.
And by the way, the whole idea of what this is all going to do, it's going to create millions of jobs and it's going to clean the environment. Our health and our jobs are at stake. That's what's happening. And we—right now, by the way, Wall Street firm has indicated that my plan—my plan will, in fact, create 18.6 million jobs, 7 million more than his. This from Wall Street and I’ll create $1 trillion more in economic growth than his proposal does, not on climate just on the economy.
Discuss
- Critique the moderator’s question. How would you have asked the question?
- Critique President Trump’s response. Was it truthful? Did he answer the question? What was persuasive in his answer? What do you disagree with?
- Critique Biden’s response. Was it truthful? Did he answer the question? What was persuasive in his answer? What did you disagree with?
- What essential information was missing from the candidates’ responses?
- What questions do you have about this issue and their responses?
Closing
Ask students:
- What issues do you think are most important to Americans generally?
- What issues are most important to you personally? Why?
- Do the questions and responses in this debate address these issues adequately, in your opinion? Why or why not?
Sources
https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/situation-reports/
https://www.devex.com/news/early-warnings-from-who-on-the-dangers-of-covid-19-97004
https://joebiden.com/justice/#
https://joebiden.com/climate-plan/
https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2020/10/23/final-presidential-debate-full-video-dbx-vpx.cnn
https://www.kff.org/other/state-indicator/total-population/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_National_Health_Care_Act
https://www.climatechangenews.com/2020/10/06/us-emissions-four-years-president-trump/