GOP pollster and communication strategist Frank Luntz shared his concerns over how Americans could respond to Thursday’s presidential debate, suggesting that the candidates’ interactions could prove disastrous for democracy.
“I’m very nervous about the outcome of this debate,” Luntz told Martha Raddatz on Sunday’s edition of ABC’s “This Week.”
“A lot of people are going to watch. A lot of people have made up their minds about the two candidates but haven’t made up their minds whether or not our democracy still works.”
Luntz warned about the candidates repeating the first 2020 presidential debate which CNN’s Jake Tapper referred to as “a hot mess inside a dumpster fire inside a trainwreck” at the time.
“If we have another reaction like that first 2020 debate — where the two candidates just go at each other — at some point, our system breaks. Our democracy comes undone,” Luntz said.
He continued, “And so I’m going to be watching not just for the cute quip, or trying to figure out who won or lost, but I’m going to be watching American reactions and whether or not this adds to our discontent and our division, or whether it begins to heal it.”
Former President Donald Trump, in the months leading up to this week’s debate, suggested that Joe Biden used cocaine ahead of his recent State of the Union address and called for the president to be drug-tested before the faceoff.
The GOP pollster noted that Trump is “good at tearing apart his opponents,” adding that he’s watching out for how Biden responds to his rival’s attacks.
“Because don’t forget, it was Joe Biden who said to Donald Trump, ‘Would you just shut up?’ And the idea that you say that to a President of the United States in a national debate — that coarseness divides and undermines this sense of democracy, being civilized and disciplined,” Luntz said.
“And I just hope that both candidates remember that there actually are some things more important than an election: the next generation.”
The Biden-Trump debate is set to air at 9 p.m. ET on Thursday and will be moderated by Tapper along with CNN’s Dana Bash.
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