Harris Vs. Trump: How To Watch 2024 Presidential Debate, Rule Disputes And Key Topics For Voters

Tuesday’s presidential debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris will be one of the biggest events of the election cycle, with less than two months until the 2024 presidential election.

How to Watch the Presidential Debate: While it's the first debate between Harris and Trump, this week's presidential debate will be the second for Trump as he previously faced off against President Joe Biden, who stepped down from the 2024 race after the last debate.

On Tuesday, Harris and Trump will meet for a live debate in swing state Pennsylvania. The Walt Disney Company DIS unit ABC News is hosting the debate, with World News Tonight anchor David Muir and ABC News Live anchor Linsey Davis serving as moderators.

The presidential debate airs at 9 p.m. ET Tuesday and will be 90 minutes in length with a scheduled end time of 10:30 p.m. ET. The debate will have two scheduled commercial breaks.

While the debate will be hosted by ABC News and air on ABC and stream on Hulu, ABC is allowing simulcasting, making the debate available on all major broadcast channels and several streaming options.

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Debate Rules: One of the key items discussed ahead of the debate between Trump and Harris was the rules, including one on whether the mics of the two candidates would be muted.

Harris wanted unmuted mics, with Trump wanting muted mics. The original rules for the debate, which had a date and network set previously by Biden and Trump, are being used with muted mics. The mics may be unmuted if there is crosstalk between candidates.

There will be no opening statements from the contestants. The moderators will ask questions with candidates getting two minutes to answer questions, two minutes for rebuttals and one minute for follow-ups and clarification.

Candidates can not have prewritten notes on stage, and their campaign teams can not interact with them during commercial breaks. The contestants will have a pen and notepad and a bottle of water with them on stage.

There is no live audience for Tuesday's presidential debate.

Key Items to Watch: Trump won a coin toss before the debate and chose to give the last closing statement. Harris chose to have her lectern on the left of the stage, which will place her on the right-hand side of screens for viewers.

The presidential debate between Harris and Trump will serve as their first in-person meeting, with no previous interactions due to Trump skipping the 2021 presidential inauguration.

Potential voters could tune in to see how the two candidates differ on key topics and also to hear more about Harris' platform, which has been the subject of debate. Some voters think Harris hasn't done enough to share her policy with minimal interviews and public speeches since being named the Democratic Party candidate after Biden stepped down.

Harris may face scrutiny over shifting positions on key issues, while Trump is likely to be questioned about his alleged ties to Project 2025 and his felony convictions from earlier this year.

Tuesday's debate could prove important to undecided voters and also serve as the only debate for the two candidates. There are currently no additional debates scheduled ahead of the 2024 election for Harris and Trump, with the potential for another debate in September or October still being hashed out.

The vice-presidential running mates of J.D. Vance and Tim Walz will face off in a CBS News hosted debate on Oct. 1.

Viewership for Tuesday's debate is expected to be high, with viewers set to tune in and watch the two candidates face off for the first time. The first 2024 presidential debate between Trump and Biden set several records for CNN and was watched by 48 million viewers.

One item for investors to watch will be viewership by network due to the simulcasting. While ABC is hosting the event, they could get beat out by Fox Corporation FOX FOXA when it comes to viewership, as CNN did earlier this year.

Since Trump and Biden had already faced off in previous debates, viewers may have been less interested in the first debate, which had lower viewership than the first debates of 2020 and 2016. The 2016 first presidential debate between Trump and Hillary Clinton was watched by a record 84 million viewers.

Harris is launching a new political ad on Tuesday that will air nationally on Fox News and in the key markets of Philadelphia and near Mar-a-Lago. The ad features past Trump administration members who have gone on to publicly say they will not endorse him in the 2024 election, as reported by Politico.

"In 2016 Donald Trump said he would choose only the best people to work in his White House. Now those people have a warning for America: Trump is not fit to be president," a voiceover in the ad says.

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