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Tonight marks the fourth of the Democratic debates, this time at Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio. With 12 candidates, it’s going to feature the most candidates on a debate stage at one time so far this year. But just how much time do you need to put aside for the debates tonight? Here are the details you need to know.
The Debate Is Scheduled to Last Three Hours, But It Could Go Longer
Tonight’s fourth official debate for the 2020 Democratic nomination for President is supposed to be three hours long, beginning at 8 p.m. Eastern and ending at 11 p.m. Eastern. The last time CNN hosted debates back in July, the debates did go longer than planned by about 30 minutes or a little longer both night. But back then, CNN had only put aside two hours for the debates, underestimating how long they would take.
According to TV Guide, the debate is scheduled to end at 11 p.m. Eastern (10 p.m. Central). However, CNN only has “CNN Debate Post Analysis” scheduled for after the debate, lasting from 11 p.m. Eastern to 1 a.m. Eastern. In other words, CNN has allotted quite a bit of cushioning in its schedule that would allow the debates to go long if needed without disrupting any of their TV programming.
Any news station you turn to after the debate is over will have plenty of recaps and reviews of the debate. So if you’re planning to host a watch party for this debate, then you might want to budget some time for an after-show too, even if you don’t want to continue watching CNN.
The lineup for tonight’s debate includes:
- Joe Biden, former Vice President
- Cory Booker, New Jersey senator
- Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Indiana
- Julián Castro, former HUD Secretary and former mayor
- Kamala Harris, California senator
- Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota senator
- Beto O’Rourke, former Texas congressman
- Bernie Sanders, Vermont senator
- Tom Steyer, businessman
- Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts senator
- Andrew Yang, entrepreneur
- Tulsi Gabbard, Hawaii congresswoman
How are these candidates doing in the polls so far? According to 538, the latest poll from HarrisX for Oct 11-14 showed Biden at 34%, Warren at 20%, and Sanders at 15%, then followed by Harris at 4%, Buttigieg at 4%, and Yang and O’Rourke at 3%.
The Quinnipiac University poll from October 11-13 showed Warren at 30%, Biden at 27%, Sanders at 11%, Buttigieg at 8%, and Harris at 4%.
The RKM Research and Communications poll for New Hampshire for October 9-13 showed Warren at 25%, Biden at 24%, Sanders at 22%, Buttigieg at 9%, and Harris at 5%.
The Morning Consult poll for October 7-13 showed Biden at 32%, Warren at 21%, Sanders at 19%, Harris at 6%, and Buttigieg at 5%.
A Firehouse Strategies/Optimus poll for South Carolina for October 8-10 showed Biden at 32%, Warren at 16%, Sanders at 8%, and Harris at 5%.
The same company’s poll for New Hampshire for October 8-10 showed Warren at 25%, Biden at 18%, Sanders at 9%, and Buttigieg at 7%.
The same company’s poll for Iowa showed Warren at 25%, Biden at 22%, Buttigieg at 17%, and Sanders at 5%.
So in general, Biden is still leading most of the polls, but Warren is starting to poll ahead sometimes. Sanders has been third in the majority of the recent polls, except for once when Buttigieg took third in Iowa. But he’s leading the pack in individual donors to his campaign.
After this, the next debates will be in November. Depending on how many qualify, we could have fewer people on stage this time around.
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