Sitting Presidents have a rusty first debate. Is it being tired from the job?

More likely just from being out of practice.

Debating is a skill, and the format of political debates is pretty weird. It's not something that you do in your day-to-day job of being President (or really. any day-to-day job).

In a race featuring an incumbent, the incumbent won't have had any debates since their last campaign four years prior. Meanwhile, the challenger will have participated in several debates in the fight to get the nomination. They're more in practice.

So in 2004, John Kerry had participated in sixteen debates over the course of several months before securing the nomination. Mitt Romney had been in nineteen. Joe Biden was in eleven in his nomination race.

That's a lot of live-fire practice - just makes you a little better in that first Presidential debate. You're not rusty, and you've done your debate prep on domestic and foreign policy over and over again,

Trump will be unusual in this regard. He secured the nomination without participating in any of the primary debates.

US Policy FAQ

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