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Archived: Election 2016: Presidential Debates

Resources for students and teachers about candidates, platforms, and voting for the 2016 National Election

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Date: Monday, September 26, 2016

Moderator: Lester Holt, Anchor, NBC Nightly News

Location: Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY

The first debate will be divided into six time segments of approximately 15 minutes each on major topics to be selected by the moderator and announced at least one week before the debate. The moderator will open each segment with a question, after which each candidate will have two minutes to respond. Candidates will then have an opportunity to respond to each other. The moderator will use the balance of the time in the segment for a deeper discussion of the topic.

Date: Sunday, October 9, 2016

Moderators: Martha Raddatz, Chief Global Affairs Correspondent and Co-Anchor of "This Week," ABC and Anderson Cooper, Anchor, CNN

Location: Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO

The second presidential debate will take the form of a town meeting, in which half of the questions will be posed directly by citizen participants and the other half will be posed by the moderator based on topics of broad public interest as reflected in social media and other sources. The candidates will have two minutes to respond and there will be an additional minute for the moderator to facilitate further discussion. The town meeting participants will be uncommitted voters selected by the Gallup Organization.

Date: Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Moderator: Chris Wallace, Anchor, Fox News Sunday

Location: University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV

The format for the third debate will be identical to the first presidential debate so it will be divided into six time segments of approximately 15 minutes each on major topics to be selected by the moderator and announced at least one week before the debate. The moderator will open each segment with a question, after which each candidate will have two minutes to respond. Candidates will then have an opportunity to respond to each other. The moderator will use the balance of the time in the segment for a deeper discussion of the topic.

Date: Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Moderator: Elaine Quijano, Anchor, CBSN and Correspondent, CBS News

Location: Longwood University, Farmville, VA

The Vice Presidential debate will be divided into nine time segments of approximately 10 minutes each. The moderator will ask an opening question, after which each candidate will have two minutes to respond. The moderator will use the balance of the time in the segment for a deeper discussion of the topic.

2016 Debates

First Debate 9/27/16

Debate Resources