36 days. There were 36 days between the previous two democratic debates, and for reference, there were only six days between the two debates before April 14th’s showdown. The last Republican debate was on March 10. These dramatic spans of silent time come amidst a growing tension between candidates, but also a growing tension between candidates and the media.
This political season has been ripe with opportunities for click-worthy news feeds, and the media at large has had many opportunities to twiddle their thumbs–that is, until this these last months of relative silence.
This lull comes from both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, as their campaigns decided to boycott their respective debates. Hillary Clinton decided that Sanders needed to take a better “tone” with her in the debates, stating that she wouldn’t participate in the NY debate until he promised to not speak as negatively towards her.
Trump stated that he had an important speech in front of an “important group of people,” which was true, but his underwhelming enthusiasm for rescheduling the debate could have been linked to his vocal distaste for Fox News’s Megyn Kelly.
When the Republican field was larger earlier in the season, several candidates also banded together to boycott a debate to protest the network’s seemingly unfair treatment of them, stating that their questions were based on immature reasonings and watered-down discussions.
“I think we have had enough debates,” Trump said in lieu of the canceled debate in Salt Lake City, Utah. “We have had 11 or 12 debates. I did really well on the last one. I think I have done well in all the debates… But I think we’ve had enough. How many times can the same people ask you the same question?”
Trump does have a point. Most of the Republican debates have devolved into shouting matches, or petty bickering about issues not even relevant to debate topics. Ted Cruz even protested to the moderator that their incessant assurance for the candidates to tackle each other was unfair.

Candidates have wielded their power throughout this debate season to domineer the media into playing by their rules, their schedules and their topics. They’ve shown the dependency that major news networks have when airing iconoclastic figures like Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, and the candidates have taken advantage when they have been able to.
“They can’t toy with me like they toy with everybody else,” Trump said in regards to Fox News. “So let them have their debate, and let’s see how they do with the ratings.”
The media has shown that they too are dependent on frontrunner participation, both for ratings and substance. According to Cnn Money, Fox averaged 25 million viewers last August during the first debate of the season with Trump, which smashed records. Even without Trump’s participation in future debates, topics swirled around his policies and influence.
Candidates understand the industry and have held hostage the work of earnest journalists, which in turn holds hostage the information available to voters.
Attending these debates is not required for participation in the election, but it is a wonder as to how they are not. It’s difficult to fathom a presidential race without a head-to-head matchup between candidates, because they show voters a rawness that builds a transparency in a world of attack ads and pre-written speeches. It humanizes candidates by making them vulnerable, which is what every voter needs to see, and that’s why so many tune in to see them.
What needs to happen, however, is a new mindset by both the candidates and the media at large. Debates should not be optional and held captive by minor discrepancies like candidate “tone” and moderator preference. Frontrunners have shown the ability to stifle opposition through their seemingly casual abandonment of debates, and that in itself discourages a transparency that voters are desperately searching for. The media too, however, needs to evaluate their own ability to speak not just to voters, but with them.
The bilingual Univision debate was a brave new start, as an entirely new audience was exposed to candidates in ways traditionally reserved for English-speakers.The effort the network took to communicate with their voters, and, in turn, to communicate their voters needs, should be the hallmark victory of this debate season.
With no more bouts to look forward to, the one thing voters need to understand is their power; they need to raise their voice to ensure that the candidates speak theirs.