Washington D.C, United States — The first US presidential debate venue has been changed due to Covid precautions.
Debate between the current president of US, Donald Trump and Democratic challanger Joe Biden is now set to take place on 29th of September, in Cleveland, Ohio.
Due to concerns over coronavirus precautions, the previous venue, University of Notre Dame in Indiana has been moved to a new venue in Ohio.
The Two debaters will hold three debates altogether before the election in November 3.
Reverend John I Jenkins, president of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, said the health precautions needed to stage the event “would have greatly diminished the educational value of hosting the debate on our campus”.
The Commision on Presidential Debates disclosed that the venue for the presidential debate will now be held in Western Reserve University’s Health Education Campus. Therefore the debate will be co-hosted by Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Clinic.
The second presidential debate that is set to take place on October 15 will be held at Miami after getting shifted from the University of Michigan.
While the third debate will take place in Nashville on 22 October, the debate between Vice-President Mike Pence and the Democratic vice-presidential nominee – who has still to be chosen – will be taking place at Salt Lake City on October 7.
According to the Washington Post-ABC News poll, Mr Biden is currently holding a lead of 15 percentage points nationally.
President Trump’s national approval ratings have dropped in a year due to Covid-19 – of which the US has by far the world’s highest death toll with more than 147,000 – and due to the widespread protests over the death of black man George Floyd in police custody in May.
