Here's Where and When to Watch the First Presidential Debate of 2024

Debate season is kicking off earlier than usual this year. The first debate between President Joe Biden and Former President Donald Trump is scheduled to take place on June 27, and many people are wondering how they can tune in.

The debate is hosted by CNN and will be moderated by Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, but that doesn't mean you have to tune in to CNN to check it out. Here are all the different ways you can watch it.

There are plenty of ways to check out the first presidential debate whether you have a cable subscription or not. If you have cable, the debate will be airing on CNN, and it will also be simulcast across other news stations including CBS.

If you don't have cable, fear not! The debate will also be available via USA Today on YouTube, or you can watch it on the CNN or CBS websites without a cable login. If you're a Max subscriber, the debate will also be made available there.

In essence, then, it won't be hard to find your way toward some version of the debate. Whereas some primary debates are kept locked on the cable networks that host them, presidential debates are made as accessible as possible so that voters can have all the information they need about both candidates.

The debate is set to kick off at 9 p.m. ET. It will not feature any opening remarks, and candidates' mics will be muted when it is not their turn to speak. These rules were agreed to by both campaigns, which is also why the debate is happening so much earlier in the election cycle than is usual.

The debate will last for 90 minutes, which means that it should conclude around 10:30 p.m. ET. The debate is slated to take place at CNN's studios in Atlanta, Ga.

While there are usually three presidential debates in an election cycle, this year there will be only two. The next one is scheduled for Sept. 10, and will be hosted by ABC. Donald Trump and Joe Biden are the only two candidates who have currently qualified for that debate, but it's possible that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. or another third-party candidate could meet the debate's standard before September. The location and moderators for that debate have yet to be determined.

Millions of Americans are expected to tune in for the debates, which should be pivotal moments in the campaign. Each campaign has made efforts to set expectations for themselves and their opponents ahead of time. The 2020 debates between Biden and Trump were sometimes difficult to watch, in part because Trump continuously interrupted Biden. That's part of the reason the mics will now be muted, although we'll see what effect that ultimately has.