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Politics Explained

The lack of a traditional election convention is a bigger loss to Trump than Biden

The Republican and Democratic Party conventions may be about to change for the foreseeable future, says Chris Stevenson

Friday 24 July 2020 19:03 BST
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Donald Trump will miss the audience the conventions would provide
Donald Trump will miss the audience the conventions would provide

Donald Trump has finally bowed to the pressure and cancelled the major element of the Republican National Convention – even if some in his own party may have preferred for it to go ahead.

Having moved the convention to Jacksonville, Florida, to try to accommodate the four-day event, Trump finally conceded that “it’s not the right time for that” as coronavirus cases soar across the country. The Democrats have already moved their convention from July to August, but may follow the Republicans in reducing it. The GOP event will now take place over half a day on 24 August in the original state of North Carolina.

The conventions, the formal nominating event for both parties and where the candidate’s election platform is laid out, has become a bit of a sideshow in recent years. They are more about pageantry and partisan backslapping than the centre point of the presidential campaign – but that will not mean they will not be missed.

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