Trump, Biden Prep for Debate Where Any Misstep Threatens Hopes

President Joe Biden and challenger Donald Trump face the same problem in their first debate: How to sway voters in a tight race where most Americans say they’ve already made up their minds.

The candidates are already at work, conferring with close advisers before the first face-to-face showdown of 2024 on June 27 in Atlanta. That forum offers a high-stakes opportunity to break through the deadlock, but with clear perils on a stage where one-liners or zingers may prove ineffective but where any gaffe or misstep threatens to be politically fatal.

Donald Trump, right, and Joe Biden during a US presidential debate in 2020.

Photographer: Jim Bourg/Reuters/Bloomberg

The president brought debate briefing books with him ...