VERIFYING claims about the CNN presidential debate rules

The first presidential debate for the 2024 general election is happening earlier than usual this year; while most presidential debates take place in September and October, this year’s first debate will be on June 27, before the nominating party conventions.

We’re answering questions submitted by VERIFY readers who wanted to know more about the rules of this debate and how they differ from previous debates.

THE QUESTION

Are the candidates given debate questions in advance?

THE SOURCES

• University of California Santa Barbara’s American Presidency Project
• Commission on Presidential Debates
• Rules for the 2004 presidential debates
• CNN, which is hosting the June 27, 2024 debate

THE ANSWER

No, the candidates are not given debate questions in advance.

The Commission on Presidential Debates, which sponsored and ran the presidential debates between 1988 and 2020, says on its website that debate “moderators alone select the questions to be asked, which are not known to the CPD or to the candidates.”

Generally, the only person or people who get the debate questions in advance are the moderators of the debate. Moderators in prior years’ debates have said that neither the candidates or the debate’s sponsor, the Commission on Presidential Debates before this year, see the questions.

The rules for the 2004 debates spelled this out. Those rules said that “no third party, including both the Commission and the campaigns, shall be permitted to see the questions.”

This includes town hall style debates, in which members of the audience ask the candidates questions.

In the town hall debate on Oct. 16, 1996, debate moderator Jim Lehrer said that neither he, the Debate Commission or the two campaigns knew the questions in advance. In the Oct. 8, 2004 debate, moderator Charles Gibson had the audience write their questions on note cards and submit them to him. Gibson said that he was the only person who had seen the final list of questions prior to the debate.

CNN has not said it would depart from this traditional part of the debate rules.

THE QUESTION

Are the candidates allowed to wear earbuds during debates?

THE SOURCES

• CNN, which is hosting the June 27, 2024 debate
• Rules for the 2004 presidential debates
• Reporting on debates held during previous presidential election years

THE ANSWER

No, the candidates are not allowed to wear earbuds during debates.

CNN, which is hosting the debate, has said that “no props or pre-written notes will be allowed on the stage.” The network will provide each candidate with a pen, a pad of paper and a bottle of water. 

This has been standard practice for debates over the last few decades. 

The rules for the 2004 presidential debates are even more specific. In those debates, candidates were prohibited from bringing “props, notes, charts, diagrams, or other writings or tangible things” onto the stage.

Presidential candidates have been falsely accused of cheating and wearing earbuds in prior presidential debates. This includes in 2020, when people on social media falsely claimed that Joe Biden was wearing earbuds during his debates with then-President Donald Trump.

THE QUESTION

Is this the first presidential debate to not have a live audience since 1960?

THE SOURCES

• University of California Santa Barbara’s American Presidency Project
• C-SPAN debate archives
• CNN, which is hosting the June 27, 2024 debate

THE ANSWER

Yes, this is the first presidential debate to not have a live audience since 1960.

The University of California Santa Barbara’s American Presidency Project has transcripts of each presidential debate since the first televised debates in 1960.

In 1960, John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon debated in the first televised debate. It was filmed in a television studio without a live audience. 

The next time there was a presidential debate was in 1976 between Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter. VERIFY reviewed the transcripts and video archives of that debate and those that followed through 2020. There are either references to a live audience in the transcript or video clips of a live audience for every debate.

CNN, which is hosting the June 27, 2024 debate, has confirmed the debate will not have a live audience.

This story is also available in Spanish / Lee este artículo también en español: Verificamos tres preguntas sobre el próximo debate presidencial