Skip to content Skip to footer

Biden Says He’s “Happy” to Debate Trump. Polls From 2020 May Indicate Why.

Biden saw a nearly 4-point bump in his polling numbers the first time he and Trump debated in 2020.

President Joe Biden speaks during the White House Correspondents' Association dinner at the Washington Hilton, in Washington, D.C., on April 27, 2024.

On Howard Stern’s radio program on Friday, President Joe Biden indicated that he was willing to debate former President Donald Trump, his Republican rival in the 2024 presidential election.

During the interview, Stern told the Democratic incumbent president that it was a “fantasy” of his to see Biden square off against Trump. Biden replied that a debate would indeed happen at some point during the remainder of the campaign.

“I don’t know when,” Biden said, adding that he would be “happy to debate him.”

Stern responded by offering Biden advice on how to handle such a debate, telling the president that he should simply repeat Trump’s election lies and belabor the fact that he tried to overturn the 2020 election, citing how Trump pressured officials in Georgia to “find” him 11,000 votes as an example.

“That’s the end of the debate,” Stern explained.

Biden responded to Stern by discussing Trump’s inaction during the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol building, when a mob of Trump loyalists stormed Congress seeking to disrupt the certification of Biden’s win over Trump.

“It was derelict — it was almost criminal, he did nothing,” Biden said. “He just sat there and watched what was happening. Now he calls them patriots and victims. And says he’s going to pardon them all if he’s elected?”

Trump responded to Biden’s comments almost immediately, writing on Truth Social on Friday that he doesn’t believe the president “really mean[s] it,” but that he’s ready to debate “ANYWHERE, ANYTIME, [and] ANYPLACE.”

Biden and Trump debated each other twice in the 2020 campaign. Neither has participated in a debate since that time, with Biden being the incumbent president and facing no serious threat to the Democratic nomination, and Trump refusing to take part in numerous GOP debates that occurred during the primary election season.

Biden has previously cast doubt on whether he would participate in a debate with Trump, saying in March that a debate between the two would depend on Trump’s “behavior.”

Biden’s words on Friday, however, seem to indicate that Trump’s temperament is no longer a factor in determining whether he’ll face off against his main challenger in the 2024 race.

Trump’s eagerness to debate Biden is perhaps due to a belief that he will fare better in the polls after the two share a stage. But that view may be misplaced, if history is any indicator.

Before their first debate in September of 2020, Biden was leading Trump in the polls by an average of 6.1 points, according to an aggregate of data from RealClearPolling. Two weeks after that debate, Biden’s lead increased to 10 points, suggesting that if the debate benefited anyone, it was Biden, not Trump.

Help us Prepare for Trump’s Day One

Trump is busy getting ready for Day One of his presidency – but so is Truthout.

Trump has made it no secret that he is planning a demolition-style attack on both specific communities and democracy as a whole, beginning on his first day in office. With over 25 executive orders and directives queued up for January 20, he’s promised to “launch the largest deportation program in American history,” roll back anti-discrimination protections for transgender students, and implement a “drill, drill, drill” approach to ramp up oil and gas extraction.

Organizations like Truthout are also being threatened by legislation like HR 9495, the “nonprofit killer bill” that would allow the Treasury Secretary to declare any nonprofit a “terrorist-supporting organization” and strip its tax-exempt status without due process. Progressive media like Truthout that has courageously focused on reporting on Israel’s genocide in Gaza are in the bill’s crosshairs.

As journalists, we have a responsibility to look at hard realities and communicate them to you. We hope that you, like us, can use this information to prepare for what’s to come.

And if you feel uncertain about what to do in the face of a second Trump administration, we invite you to be an indispensable part of Truthout’s preparations.

In addition to covering the widespread onslaught of draconian policy, we’re shoring up our resources for what might come next for progressive media: bad-faith lawsuits from far-right ghouls, legislation that seeks to strip us of our ability to receive tax-deductible donations, and further throttling of our reach on social media platforms owned by Trump’s sycophants.

We’re preparing right now for Trump’s Day One: building a brave coalition of movement media; reaching out to the activists, academics, and thinkers we trust to shine a light on the inner workings of authoritarianism; and planning to use journalism as a tool to equip movements to protect the people, lands, and principles most vulnerable to Trump’s destruction.

We urgently need your help to prepare. As you know, our December fundraiser is our most important of the year and will determine the scale of work we’ll be able to do in 2025. We’ve set two goals: to raise $81,000 in one-time donations and to add 1250 new monthly donors by midnight on December 31.

Today, we’re asking all of our readers to start a monthly donation or make a one-time donation – as a commitment to stand with us on day one of Trump’s presidency, and every day after that, as we produce journalism that combats authoritarianism, censorship, injustice, and misinformation. You’re an essential part of our future – please join the movement by making a tax-deductible donation today.

If you have the means to make a substantial gift, please dig deep during this critical time!

With gratitude and resolve,

Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy