Biden, Trump to hold dueling town halls after 2nd debate canceled

US President Donald Trump and democratic challenger Joe Biden will participate in dueling town halls on Thursday instead of their second debate, which was canceled after Trump declined to take part in a virtual matchup.

The split screen spectacle comes as Trump seeks to jolt his struggling campaign 19 days before the November 3 election.

The twin events, in which each candidate will field questions from voters, will both take place at 8 p.m. EDT (0000 GMT).

The competing primetime appearances were organized after a debate between Trump and Biden due to be held Thursday was scrapped in the aftermath of Trump's COVID-19 diagnosis.

Biden and Trump have been visiting crucial states this week, with Trump holding rallies in battleground states of Florida, Pennsylvania and Iowa less than two weeks after testing positive for Covid-19. Biden travelled to Ohio and Florida.

The virus pandemic remains front and center in the campaigns as COVID-19 cases spike in several US states and the US virus death toll surpasses 216,000.

Trump negotiated to go on NBC at an outdoor setting in Miami after Biden had arranged his own event on ABC in Philadelphia.

NBC has faced backlash for letting the president bigfoot Biden in the same 8:00 time slot.

"Having dueling town halls is bad for democracy," tweeted Katie Couric, a longtime host of NBC's "Today" morning show.

"Voters should be able to watch both and I don't think many will," she said, adding the matchup will benefit Trump "because people like to watch his unpredictability."

David Canon, chair of the political science department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison said Trump may have committed a "tactical error" by backing out of a virtual debate with Biden.

"He needed the debates more than Biden did," Canon said. "He's the one that needs to change the momentum in the election."

More than 14 million Americans have cast ballots in early voting so far: Analysis

Weeks before Election Day, 14 million people have already voted in the presidential election, according to an analysis by the United States Election Project.

Democrats leading pre-election voting

Democrats are far outvoting Republicans in early ballots cast so far in Pennsylvania, a key state that President Donald Trump won by less than one percentage point in 2016.

They are responsible for 76% of the ballots cast so far in the state, despite making up roughly 47% of registered voters. Meanwhile, Republicans make up almost 39% of registered voters in Pennsylvania but have only cast 16% of the ballots so fa, CNN said.

Democrats also lead Republicans in pre-election voting in eight more battleground states that could decide the next president.

Democrats outpaced Republicans in the decisive state of Florida — and by a mammoth 384,000-vote margin through Tuesday.

The unprecedented early voting numbers have electrified Democrats in Trump’s must-win swing state, but Florida campaign veterans warn that it’s too early for the party to celebrate.

In Florida and North Carolina, Republican voters actually led in ballots cast at this point four years ago. But now, Democrats hold a 22-point lead over Republicans in the share of ballots cast in Florida and a 33-point lead in North Carolina.

Trump renews attack

The first of three scheduled presidential debates was widely criticized for descending into an angry shouting match, with Trump frequently hectoring and interrupting, prompting Biden to tell him to "shut up" as the two fought over COVID-19, healthcare and the struggling economy.

At a boisterous rally Wednesday in Iowa, Trump renewed the fierce attacks, saying "Joe is shot, OK?... Joe has lost it."

"If he wins, the radical left will be running the country. They're addicted to power, and God help us if they get it."

Trump also tweeted a crudely faked picture purporting to show Biden in a wheelchair, furthering his long-running narrative that “Biden is too frail for the presidency.”

Biden is trailing behind Biden as a RealClearPolitics average of national polls has Biden up by 9.2 points, with the Democratic challenger leading in several key battleground states like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

The third presidential debate is scheduled for Oct. 22 in Nashville, Tennessee.

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