The Biden-Trump debate won’t have changed voters’ minds – America is as divided as ever

Editorial: Despite a personal and chaotic TV head to head, nothing seems likely to move the political needle in the last weeks of this long and arid campaign

Donald Trump and Joe Biden participate in the first US presidential debate (Independent)

As might have been expected, the presidential “debate” – it hardly qualifies for the term – created few surprises. It was as personal, harsh, chaotic and unenlightening as feared. It was like listening to two guys in a bar arguing about the football game, and not from any particular base of knowledge or insight. If the session had any value at all, it was to confirm the candidates’ respective supporters in their existing preferences, and to leave the remaining swing voters none the wiser about who to plump for.

More than most presidential contests this is between two extremely familiar figures. Biden has been in politics for a half century, launched his first presidential bid in 1988, and spent eight years as Barack Obama’s vice president. Donald Trump was a celebrity and reality TV star even before he became president. Biden and Trump’s virtues and vices are well known. 

Even the recent revelations about President Trump’s tax affairs, impressive as the scoop was for The New York Times, came as no great shock to anyone. It might have been more of a story if the returns then revealed that the tycoon paid the same share of his income to the federal government as most working Americans do, and that he was debt-free. The activities of Mr Biden’s son Hunter in the Ukrainian energy market, and Trump’s “beautiful” phone call to the Ukrainian president about Biden Jr, are also well publicised.