The world's attention will be on Georgia tonight as the first presidential debate ahead of the 2024 Presidential election is set for Thursday night in the Peach State.
Donald Trump and Joe Biden are set to meet in Atlanta for a debate in the city where CNN is headquartered, with both candidates' teams are busy preparing the stage for tonight's face-off.
With both candidates taking jabs at each other's age (a mere three years separates them), these senior statesmen have arranged a debate prior to receiving official nominations from their respective committees, opted for no audience, and for the first time, automatic microphone muting.
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While it's not unusual for a moderator to have the ability to silence anyone's mic, having it automatically cut off is quite rare. This was a request from Biden to prevent Trump, notorious for his interruptions, from talking over his debate adversary.
Tonight, moderators Dana Bash and Jake Tapper won't have to work as hard to keep each candidate in line, reports the Mirror US.
In the 2020 debate, rivals' mics were silenced during each candidate's opening remarks in each 15-minute segment but not at other times.
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For Biden, the mute feature could prove particularly useful, given that Trump's gag order has recently been lifted, allowing him to freely criticise Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels. And Biden needs to rack up as many points as he can.
A recent poll has shown that Donald Trump is leading Joe Biden by three points as they prepare for Thursday night's debate. The Democracy Institute/Daily Express US poll shows Trump with 46 percent support among 500 likely voters, while Biden lags slightly behind at 43 percent, with an additional four percent still undecided.
Both are predicted to clash over policy during the debate, but a source from Biden's camp told CNN that the President's team has been preparing him for potential jibes about his family. Hunter Biden, Joe's son, was recently convicted of felony gun charges.
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Meanwhile, Trump himself has just become a felon, awaiting sentencing after being found guilty of 34 criminal hush money charges in New York. However, it's doubtful that Biden will comment on Trump's legal troubles, as Trump has a history of pointing fingers at the Biden family.
According to former President Donald Trump, the US is in a state of disarray under President Joe Biden's leadership: the economy is failing, countries are emptying their prisons and mental institutions across the southern border, and crime rates have skyrocketed.
Conversely, Biden argues that he inherited an inflation rate of 9 percent and petrol prices at $5 per gallon when he took office. He also boasts about his administration's record on job creation, although he doesn't provide the full context.