It’s unclear how many Iowans may be tuning in tonight’s first presidential debate of the 2024 election season, since political scientists say most people have already decided for whom they’ll be voting in November.
Both candidates have already served as president and both were their parties’ nominees four years ago. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says he’ll be watching, but he knows, too, most Americans have already picked a favorite.
“I think there’s about five-percent hardcore undeciders, and then probably another five-percent that are flexible enough to change their mind,” Grassley says. “I think that’s what’s at stake tonight.”
Grassley, a Republican, says our nation is severely divided ideologically and the focus of presidential elections has radically changed in recent years.
“It used to be 40% of the people were against you, and 40% were for you, and you went after 20% of the vote,” Grassley says. “Today it’s about 47-48, somewhere in that range, of the people are for one or the other, and then you’re going after three or four-percent.”
President Biden and former President Trump have their work cut out for them, Grassley says, as they’ll be trying to reach an extremely small audience from the nationally-televised stage.
“First of all, the country is very divided between conservatives and liberals, and that’s reflected in who they’re supporting, so just a very narrow number of people haven’t made their mind up,” Grassley says. “It’s a tough job to get elected president when you only have three or four-percent of the people to go after.”
The 90-minute debate is being hosted by CNN in Atlanta and will air on multiple channels, beginning at 8 PM/Central.