[Open discussion] Pre-debate Discussion Megathread

Am I the only one who thinks this business with Gennifer Flowers seems like a terrible idea? Like it or not, Trump is a well-documented serial adulterer, and I don't see him coming out on top in a referendum on infidelity. Furthermore, it feeds directly into the left's narrative that he's a bully who likes to resort to personal attacks. I thought it was a hilarious idea when he suggested it on Twitter, but I really hope he doesn't try to pursue this any further.

IMO, Trump only needs to not do two things and he wins:

1. Don't call Hillary names. No "Crooked Hillary" etc.

2. Don't look like a moron or lunatic. Don't bring up (or imply) any thing that is seen as a conspiracy theory. I think the biggest risk is looking uninformed, as Clinton/the moderator will likely ask technical questions, and he's not really great with technicalities.

If he can avoid those two things, no matter how well Clinton explains herself or attacks Trump, Trump wins.

In order to win-over new voters, what do the candidates need to achieve?

Both candidates need to break their public stereotype. Trump needs to appear like he isn't a crazy racist, and Clinton needs to not appear as a corrupt liar. Trump has stayed constant and on message for the last month, and won't be talking through a media filter, so I'd give the edge here to him. Plus, shaking an untrustworthy label is extremely difficult, as Ted Cruz can tell you all about.

How do you think this debate will impact key swing states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, and New Hampshire? What do the candidates need to do to target those key voters?

One advantage to Trump's populism is that he appeals to working class people that otherwise might not vote Republican. I think he needs to focus on fixing the economy, and driving home the message that Clinton won't change anything.

What things are each candidate looking to avoid?

Trump can absolutely not let Clinton bait him into saying something dumb. She is going to try it, 100%. If he can avoid that, he should be fine.

What are the issues you are hoping that comes up during the debate? What issues do you want to see avoided?

Space exploration is an interest of mine that I haven't seen much of from either candidate. Other than that, the economy and immigration are two things I'd like to see talk about.

It's finally here! I feel like a kid on Christmas Eve! For you football fans, in the words of Bart Scott "Can't Wait".

What will you be looking for, for each candidate?

I am going to see if Trump can change the narrative about Trump. He has to convince the nation that the media narrative of him being a bloviating racist is just untrue. He needs to make his message a unifying one that is clear, concise & targeted and he needs to explain why Hillary will be the one to continue down the dis-unification path Obama has take us on. He needs to make the case for why America isn't great right now, but what will be more important is to also make the case for why he is the one to make it great. Attacking politicians, polarization, international instability, economic stagnation, unfiltered immigration, crummy healthcare, veteran's abuses all should be on his topic train. As well as problems facing specific demographics such as inner cities, legal immigrants, working moms, young college grads & blue collar workers, explaining specifically how his policies benefit each of these groups, and why it's imperative that they start voting in their interest, instead of the interest of their political representatives who disappear year after year post election day.

Hillary needs to convince America that she is knowledgeable, that she has good judgement & that she is trustworthy. I believe she will be able to do the first thing, I have no way of rationalizing how she can prove the other two things. Her previous decisions can't be erased and her previous lies won't be forgotten. Maybe a Clinton supporter can better explain how she will be able to achieve this.

In order to win-over new voters, what do the candidates need to achieve?

Trump needs to convince America why they have been misled to believe that the status quo is good enough.

Hillary needs to convince voters that her more moderate approach is more effective at getting the changes done that Bernie supporters wanted.

How do you think this debate will impact key swing states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, and New Hampshire?

I'm really interested in seeing how this will affect Pennsylvania. With so many blue collar Democrats in the state, I'm curious to see if Trump can solidify his case for why they need to stop voting for the people looking to export their jobs out of the country. If he can succeed in doing that, I see potentially beneficial swings in his favor. If Trump can't stay away from being denigrating, these states and all others will turn on him like they did post the Curiel comments.

What things are each candidate looking to avoid?

Trump has to avoid proving Hillary is correct when she says he is "temperamentally unfit".

Hillary needs to avoid trying to downplay her controversies and writing them off as being insignificant. "What difference does it make" isn't going to sit well with the American public.

What traits are each candidate hoping to come out during this debate?

Trump needs to show the American public that he is a strong, common sense leader who America needs to represent it and its interests on the world stage. He needs to prove to Americans that a vote for him is a vote for the benefit of our country and our countries people.

Hillary needs to show American's that she is just as strong of a leader who is going to work through methodical politicizing of policies in order to benefit America. I don't know how she can achieve this given past decision making, maybe a Clinton supporter can explain.

What are the issues you are hoping that comes up during the debate?

There is a litany of issues that I want to see discussed:

• What is the cause of ISIS? What are the threats to America/West surrounding ISIS? What is the most effective way to combat ISIS?

• What are the consequences of illegal immigration? Who does it hurt? Who does it benefit?

• Why has the so-called "recovered" economy produced stagnant wages for millions? Why are college grads unable to find work that will help pay of their debt? Why are people's disposable incomes virtually non-existent? Why is our debt continuing to grow? Why are our trade deficits always with us in the red and our trade partners in the black?

• Why after 8 years of a historic presidency our nation is more divided than before? What is the best way to unify America?

• Why does corruption continue to exist in public life? An evaluation of our electoral process & whom benefits from it existing as-is, and if either is willing to change it.

• The drug war and our plan regarding it, and marijuana legalization. I'm hoping Trumps plan is to propose a policy during the debate for federal legalization of marijuana, which will cut into the Bernie supporter/Gary Johnson supporter/ Jill Stein supporter pool.

What issues do you want to see avoided?

I'm not sure I want any issue avoided but given time constraints I will say these issues are less important.

• Abortion rights, gay marriage, transgendered bathrooms (basically social issues).

• Trump University, Trump Foundation, Clinton Foundation, Clinton Emails etc. I don't want this to be a debate about "defend your past", both candidates did enough of that in the primaries. I want this to be a debate about tell me about the present, tell me about why we are where we are, and tell me what your plan is for the future. Why is your plan better than your opponents plan, and why should we believe it can/will get passed in Washington?

I wonder whether the no-applause rules will mess with Trump at all. He seems like the kind of guy who can really feed off the energy of a crowd, so the silence might unnerve him a bit.

As for issues I want to see come up during the debate, I want to see both candidates respond to a somewhat out-of-left-field question. For example, "Is the way we currently elect the President fair or unfair? why or why not?" It's something that neither of them have likely prepped at all, so it's a good judge of how they handle surprise.

What are the issues you are hoping that comes up during the debate? What issues do you want to see avoided?

As is always the case, I wish to see a lot on climate change. I want to hear Clinton's detail her plans for expanding on Obama's executive actions. I also want to see Truml call it a Chinese Conspiracy, if only to see how Lester Holt tries to deal with it.

What will you be looking for, for each candidate?

For Trump I'll be looking to see if he can convince me on his stances on the issues. According to isidewith.com I only side with him on 50% of the issues, but I've noticed on things like gay marriage he wants to leave the issue up to the states. While I'm in support of equal marriage rights, I think his position on it is perfect, even if he himself wouldn't support it.

For Hillary I'm going to keep an eye on the truthiness of her statements. I align ideologically a little bit more with her but her history leaves me to distrust and dislike her a lot.

In order to win-over new voters, what do the candidates need to achieve?

What things are each candidate looking to avoid?

Trump needs to seem not sexist, racist, xenophobic, deplorable, etc. The more Presidential he can be seen as the better. If he reacts poorly to anything then it's going to be an uphill battle. If he is calm, respectful, genuine, and nails the topics then he has a lot going for him.

Hillary's best chance is getting Trump to do something I said he shouldn't do. She also needs to not have any apparent health episodes during the debates, this would give a lot of credence to the "alt right conspiracy theories"

What are the issues you are hoping that comes up during the debate?

I want to see what Trump has to say about transgender rights. It's clear he wants to keep the LGBTQ community safe from harm as much as any American, but I'm afraid he's likely to push us away somehow.

I find this conversation about whether or not the debate moderators should be doing 'fact-checking' fascinating, considering both sides are currently saying that the other one is perpetually lying.

If I'm Trump's political strategist, the best thing I can think of in terms of media image is to see Clinton called out and raked over the coals with a full source quote for a lie that she said; I wouldn't expect my candidate to have the exact wording available or be able to recite the source from memory. By letting my candidate do the fact checking, now Trump has the possibility of not remembering the exact source right or miss-quoting, and then that is its own problem. If Clinton is caught lying, I want Trump there acting calm and cool, not getting heated, and after the moderator points out the lie from Clinton he just kind of puts his hands up and says "hey what can you do she does it all the time". Visa versa if I'm Clinton's political strategist.

Is it the sources that are controversial? Is it when to step in that's controversial? Can Clinton or Trump just not agree on reality anymore so they don't want that to even be in question? I find it very frustrating because I want the debates to be as well sourced and detailed as possible; this shit is important.

Curious if anyone thinks the debates will move the needle much? Historically, debates have had around a 4-6% effect on the polls, when they've had an effect (Ray Gun being a notable exception). Anyone have any reason to think this will be more like the former than the latter, for either candidate?

Can't fkn wait.

Question to supporters, putting it here instead of a separate thread: do you think Holt is a good choice to moderate the debate? Who would you have preferred to see?

These debates will finally settled where my vote goes. I am vehemently against both hillary and donald. The separation of parties has added to my inability to choose a candidate, but neither of them are close enough to the middle to get my vote as of now.

The biggest thing I'm looking for is a direct compare and contrast of policies between the candidates. The second thing I'm looking for will be responses to issues that the opposing parties have for each candidate (specifically immigration and dealing with corporate corruption [like with the Wells Fargo scandal, and possibly with some of his personal financial faux pas like trump university and using charity funds for law suits] for Trump; Why Cheryl Mills was given immunity from the email scandal and where specifically all the funding for her proposed social programs are actually coming from beyond just "tax the rich" for Hillary).

This is going to be a really important moment in the cycle. Clinton didn't seem great vs Sanders back in the Democratic debates, and Trump will have to stick to the actual issues this time around. I could honestly see this going both ways. I've seen people online say that the topics favour Trump more this time.

Post-debate discussion can continue in this thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskTrumpSupporters/comments/54nurg/open_discussion_postfirst_debate_megathread/

Why is he arguing for stop and frisk so much? That is an entirely non conservative view. It is a clear breach of our 4th Amendment right.