1. Lincoln-Douglas debate wasn’t about the presidency.                              

According to the National Park Service, the well-known Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858 were not related to a run for the White House. They debates were actually done in an attempt to familiarize the public with the candidate’s names. The incumbent, Sen. Stephen Douglas, and Abraham Lincoln were actually running for a Senate seat at the time. The two men traveled to seven different congressional districts in the state of Illinois, allowing the citizens to observe their stances. While he was known for his excellence on the debate stage, Lincoln lost the Senate race. However, two years later, the same two men became presidential candidates running against one another yet again. This time, Lincoln defeated Douglas.

2. Time reflects tradition.

According to ABC News, every general-election presidential debate was aired for 90 minutes except for one. The exception was the first-ever televised debate between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy in 1960. This debate only lasted 60 minutes.

3. Unprecedented number of viewers in 2016 debate.

While voter turnout dwindles, the public continues to tune into the presidential debates. The first 2016 debate drew the most viewers of all time. According to TV ratings data from Nielsen, an estimated 84 million people tuned in to watch Trump and Clinton. This data also does not account for the millions of people who watched the debate online. Prior to this debate, the 1980 debate between Reagan and Carter was the most popular with 80.6 million viewers.

4. Sept. 26 marks a significant date in debate history.

The 2016 presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, debated one another on the same date that the first-ever televised debate took place in 1960. Democratic Senator John F. Kennedy and Republican Vice President Richard Nixon debated one another in a Chicago television studio on Sept. 26, 1960.

5. Sixteen years of declining debate.

While the Nixon-Kennedy debates of 1960 were widely popular, there was not another general-election presidential debate held for 16 years. President Lyndon Johnson refused to go on the debate stage in 1964, and Nixon followed this trend 1968 and 1972.

6. The incumbent refused to debate alongside the independent candidate.

In 1980, the incumbent, Jimmy Carter, refused to participate in a debate that allowed a third-party candidate to participate. He chose to skip the debate on Sept. 21, 1980, but the Republican nominee, Ronald Reagan, and independent candidate, John Anderson, debated without him.

7. Technology delays the debate for nearly half an hour in 1976.

 The incumbent, Gerald Ford, and Democratic nominee, Jimmy Carter, debated on Sept. 23, 1976. With only nine minutes remaining, the audio failed, which left the candidates frozen behind their podiums. The technological difficulties continued for the next 27 minutes as the candidates waited on stage. They told reporters later that they were hesitant to move and be caught in an awkward or unprofessional position by the cameras. After nearly thirty minutes, the sound was repaired and the debate resumed as if nothing had happened.

-Katlyn Milligan