ATLANTA — Democratic President Joe Biden and his Republican rival Donald Trump take the stage on June 27 night (June 28 morning in Singapore) for a debate that will offer voters a rare side-by-side look at the two oldest candidates ever to seek the US presidency.

Biden, 81, and Trump, 78, will be under pressure to display their command of issues and avoid verbal stumbles as they seek a breakout moment in a race that opinion polls show has been deadlocked for months.

The 90-minute televised debate, the first between a sitting president and a former one, will air at 9pm ET (9am June 28 in Singapore) on CNN and takes place far earlier than normal — more than four months before the Nov 5 Election Day.

It comes at a moment of profound polarisation and deep-seated anxiety among voters about the state of American politics. Two-thirds of voters said in a May Reuters/Ipsos poll that they were concerned violence could follow the election, nearly four years after a mob of Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol.

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