President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump will clash Thursday night in their crucial first presidential debate of the 2024 election, a potentially defining early moment in their White House rematch.

At a time of year when reruns should be ruling the airwaves, the televised CNN debate is likely to attract the biggest single audience of the entire campaign up to Election Day in November.

The debate comes as the two men are locked in a neck-and-neck race for the presidency, with polls showing a virtually deadlocked contest and voters saying they wish both parties would have picked other candidates.

That dynamic raises the stakes even higher: If either man can make a breakthrough with even a relatively small group of voters, it could change the entire course of the race.

A disastrous slip-up, on the other hand, would likely be magnified and live on in the electorate’s imagination for months.

Here are some key things to know about the debate:

When and where is the debate?

The 90-minute debate will be held at CNN’s studios in Atlanta, starting at 9 p.m. Eastern time. The moderators will be Jake Tapper and Dana Bash.

There will be no studio audience, eliminating the possibility of cheering or booing by supporters.

The candidates’ microphones will be muted except when it’s their turn to speak, potentially preventing Trump from continually interrupting Biden or the moderators like he did in 2020.

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