WATCH LIVE: Mike Pence, Kamala Harris face off in first vice presidential debate

Vice President Mike Pence and U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris will face off in a high-stakes debate at 9 p.m. tonight at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.

The running mates’ ability to step up and lead — and, therefore, their debate performance tonight — is proving more consequential than usual for voters faced with two septuagenarian major party presidential candidates.

Pence, 61, is already a heartbeat away from the presidency as the No. 2 to 74-year-old President Trump, whose health remains uncertain as he battles COVID-19. And Harris, 55, is facing scrutiny as the running mate to Democratic nominee Joe Biden, who, at 77, would be the oldest person ever to become president, a title currently held by Trump himself.

A Franklin Pierce University-Boston Herald poll released Tuesday shows voters believe Harris would be more ready to assume the presidency if needed than Pence.

The 90-minute debate will air without commercials and will be broken into 10-minute sections on nine different topics, all moderated by USA TODAY Washington Bureau chief Susan Page.

Rule changes after Trump’s coronavirus diagnosis mean the candidates will have plexiglass barriers in between them and will be seated 12 feet apart.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2Gz0VXq