2016 Debates
There were three presidential debates and one vice presidential debate during the 2016 general election.
Courtesy Mark Abraham
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General Election Presidential Debate
Hillary Clinton (D) and
Donald J. Trump (R)
Date: September 26, 2016
Location: Hofstra University
City: Hempstead, NY
Time: 9:00 – 10:30pm Eastern
Sponsor: Commission on Presidential Debates
Moderator: Lester Holt, NBC
Topic: All Topics
Viewership: 84 million (Data provided by Nielsen Media Research)
Format: 90-minute debate with candidates standing at podiums. Divided into six time segments of approximately 15 minutes, with topics selected and announced beforehand by the moderator. Each segment opened with a question, after which each candidate had two minutes to respond. The moderator used the balance of the time in the segment for a discussion of the topic.
Pool coverage provided by: ABC
Vice Presidential Debate
Tim Kaine (D) and
Mike Pence (R)
Date: October 4, 2016
Location: Longwood University
City: Farmville, VA
Time: 9:00 – 10:30 Eastern
Sponsor: Commission on Presidential Debates
Moderator: Elaine Quijano, CBS
Topic: All Topics
Viewership: 37 million (Data provided by Nielsen Media Research)
Format: 90-minute debate with candidates seated at table with moderator. Divided into nine segments of approximately 10 minutes each. Each segment opened with a question, after which each candidate had two minutes to respond. The moderator used the balance of the time in the segment for a discussion of the topic.
Pool coverage provided by: ABC
General Election Presidential Debate
Hillary Clinton (D) and
Donald J. Trump (R)
Date: October 9, 2016
Location: Washington University in St. Louis
City: St. Louis, MO
Time: 9:00 – 10:30pm Eastern
Sponsor: Commission on Presidential Debates
Moderator: Martha Raddatz, ABC & Anderson Cooper, CNN
Topic: All Topics
Viewership: 66.5 million (Data provided by Nielsen Media Research)
Format: 90-minute town hall meeting debate. Half of the questions were posed directly to the candidates by citizen participants and the other half were posed by the moderator based on topics of broad public interest as reflected in social media and other sources. The candidates had two minutes to respond and there was an additional minute for the moderator to facilitate further discussion. The town meeting participants were uncommitted voters selected by the Gallup Organization.
Pool coverage provided by: NBC
General Election Presidential Debate
Hillary Clinton (D) and
Donald J. Trump (R)
Date: October 19, 2016
Location: University of Nevada, Las Vegas
City: Las Vegas, NV
Time: 9:00 – 10:30pm Eastern
Sponsor: Commission on Presidential Debates
Moderator: Chris Wallace, FOX
Topic: All Topics
Viewership: 71.6 million (Data provided by Nielsen Media Research)
Format: 90-minute debate with candidates standing at podiums. Divided into six time segments of approximately 15 minutes, with topics selected and announced beforehand by the moderator. Each segment opened with a question, after which each candidate had two minutes to respond. The moderator used the balance of the time in the segment for a discussion of the topic.
Pool coverage provided by: FOX