How to Watch the Presidential Debate Live Online

Posted by Aldo Pusey on Sunday, August 25, 2024

If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission.

Joe Biden and Donald Trump will face off in the first of their two debates on Thursday night, leading up to this year’s presidential election. The first 2024 presidential debate will take place at 9 p.m. ET in CNN’s Atlanta studios. It will air live on CNN, CNN International, CNN en Español, CNN Max and CNN.com. There will not be an audience present “to ensure candidates may maximize the time allotted in the debate,” CNN said in a release. Anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash will moderate.

For those that don’t have cable, the best way to tune into Thursday night’s CNN debate is on a live TV streamer such as DirecTV, Sling TV and Hulu + Live TV — all of which have free trials if you aren’t looking for the monthly committment.

Related Stories

Downward line graph with an Apple Vision Pro on fire VIP+

Apple Vision Pro Clouds the Bright Future for XR

Secret Level

'Secret Level' Director Tim Miller and Epic Games Execs Talk Hollywood's Relationship With Unreal Engine as Version 5.5 Launches

STREAM THE DEBATE ON DIRECTV Free Trial

This will be the first debate between Biden and Trump ahead of the 2024 election, where Trump is seeking to return to the White House. Trump notably did not participate in any of the Republican primary debates leading up to the general election.

Popular on Variety

Last month, Biden posted a video on X prodding Trump to debate him. In it, Biden made fun of Trump’s criminal trial for hush money payments, of which Trump has now been found guilty on all 34 charges.

“Donald Trump lost two debates to me in 2020. Since then, he hasn’t shown up for a debate,” Biden said. “Now, he’s acting like he wants to debate me again. Well, make my day, pal. I’ll even do it twice. So let’s pick the dates, Donald. I heard you’re free on Wednesdays.”

Trump responded on his Truth Social platform, writing: “Crooked Joe Biden is the WORST debater I have ever faced – He can’t put two sentences together! … I am Ready and Willing to Debate Crooked Joe at the two proposed times in June and September. I would strongly recommend more than two debates and, for excitement purposes, a very large venue, although Biden is supposedly afraid of crowds – That’s only because he doesn’t get them.”

It was also reported last month that CNN plans to run commercials during the event, which has run free of ads for many years under the management of the non-partisan Commission on Presidential Debates.

The second presidential debate will be hosted by ABC on Sept. 10. In the meantime, stream the first 2024 presidential debate live online below:

STREAM THE DEBATE ON DIRECTV Free Trial

Read More About:

Jump to Comments

More from Variety

Most Popular

Must Read

Sign Up for Variety Newsletters

By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. // This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Variety Confidential

A Variety and iHeartRadio Podcast

ncG1vNJzZmiukae2psDYZ5qopV9nfXOAjqyfqKignruoe82erqxnp52ys7GMraZmr5GpsKl5xaKprKxdpb%2Bmv8idnKesmZa5brDEm5itnV2owbOxwKagp59dZn90go9uZ29wZ2Q%3D

CATALOG
    FEATURED TAGS