The first presidential debate airs on 41 Action News Mon., Sept. 26 at 8 p.m. Nightly News' Lester Holt is the moderator.
We wanted to know what's at stake and how Missouri fits into the 2016 race to the White House, so we sat down with University of Missouri - Kansas City political science professor Dr. Beth Vonnahme to get answers to our debate-related questions.
Are there enough undecided voters that the debates can really sway opinion this late in the election cycle?
The chances that they move polls is very unlikely. But that has a lot to do with what else is going on in the campaign as opposed to the debates themselves being meaningless. There's just so much going on, there are other events candidates are holding, there is advertising, there are also voters coming to the debates already having made their decision. We are talking about a very small number of people who have not decided at this point who they will vote for so at this point they may be influential. But for the vast majority, they are coming to the debates to see how their candidate does - to cheer on, to jeer the other candidate.
So then why have the debates?
It doesn't move polls but the reality is these debates do provide a lot of information to voters. So even though you may not choose Trump or Clinton based on the debate, you will learn something about the candidates. That combined with other things that are happening in the campaign might actually sway your decision.
What role does Missouri play in the election between now and November?
I would call [Missouri] a swing state in most presidential elections. That means for voters, turnout will be critical. Even though you think there is a chance Trump wins Missouri without difficulty, the reality is it will be very close, particularly in Missouri and so for voters turning out is really important.
How can viewers and voters prepare themselves ahead of Monday's debate?
The topics for the debate [Monday night] are very vague and encompass a lot of issues. What I could suggest is to peruse the candidates' websites and see what they are espousing on the different areas. The areas being focused on are prosperity, security and America's direction, which are very vague topics. But, the candidates all have issue topics in place on their websites. Another place you can look at are some of the nonpartisan groups like votesmart.org. They do an issue compilation of the candidates' positions and that could be of interest to a voter interested in doing some homework before the debates.
Why should viewers and voters tune in to the debate?
Even if you have already made up your mind, I would still watch the debates to see what antics the candidates get up to because I think it will be interesting. If you haven't made up your mind, I think the debates are really great to see not only the candidates' issue positions but also their personalities and their mental fitness because the way they react to questions, the way they react to each other can gives us some clues about their personality that is not as scripted as a stump speech might.
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Terra Hall can be reached at terra.hall@kshb.com.
