The first general election debate of the 2024 season kicked off Thursday evening in Atlanta, with U.S. President Joe Biden and his Republican rival, Donald Trump, squaring off as the candidates attempt to lure currently undecided voters. Biden, the Democratic incumbent, has the opportunity to reassure voters that, at 81, he’s capable of guiding the U.S. through a range of challenges. Meanwhile, the 78-year-old Trump could use the moment to try to move past his felony conviction in New York and convince an audience of tens of millions that he’s temperamentally suited to return to the Oval Office. Thursday’s debate in Atlanta marks at least a couple of firsts — never before have two White House contenders faced off at such advanced ages, and never before has CNN hosted a general election presidential debate.

The first half hour

In first half hour of debate, a raspy Joe Biden has delivered rambling answers that sometimes trail off as he defends his policies and record.

Donald Trump has countered with falsehoods on issues including the economy, abortion and NATO members’ defense spending.

The two have also exchanged deeply personal attacks.

Biden pushes back on Trump’s NATO comments

Joe Biden pushed back at Donald Trump bragging about pushing European allies to put more money into defense. “This is a guy who wants to pull out of NATO,” Biden said, adding that he “got 50 other nations” to support Ukraine against Russia’s invasion.

Biden forcefully responded to Trump’s NATO comments, saying: “He has no idea what the hell he’s talking about.”

About 6 in 10 Americans see NATO membership as a very or somewhat good thing for the U.S., while about one-quarter say it’s neither good nor bad and only about 1 in 10 say it’s very or somewhat bad, according to an AP-NORC poll conducted in February.

Trump claims Russia’s attack on Ukraine would not have happened with him as president

The questioning during Thursday’s debate turned to foreign policy beginning with the Russian war in Ukraine, which is now in its third year.

Former President Donald Trump suggested Russia never would have attacked Ukraine if he had been in office.

“If we had a real president, a president that knew that was respected by Putin, he would have never he would have never invaded Ukraine,” he said.

Trump has a long history of positive comments about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s toughness, including calling Putin’s tactics in the 2022 invasion of Ukraine “genius” and “very savvy.”

Trump expresses no such warmth for Ukraine or Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, most recently calling him a “salesman” this month for the Ukrainian leader’s military aid requests to the United States.

Candidates questioned on immigration and the country’s borders

Former President Donald Trump complained that migrants who arrive in the country illegally are housed in “luxury hotels” while veterans are on the street.

As expected, he also leaned heavily on discussing migrant crime. He also said migrants are coming into the U.S. illegally from “mental institutions” and “insane asylums.” He has not provided evidence for that claim, which he has frequently made at rallies.

Trump also said he had the “safest border border in history” — a highly questionably claim and a familiar talking point.

President Joe Biden has stuck to his talking points on immigration, highlighting 40% drop in arrests for illegal immigration since issuing an executive order suspending asylum.

He’s trying to gain ground on immigration, which has risen as a national priority, not just among Republicans.

Just 3 in 10 Americans approve of Biden’s handling of immigration, according to an AP-NORC poll from June. About 6 in 10 Democrats approve of Biden’s approach to the issue, but only about 2 in 10 Independents and fewer than 1 in 10 Republicans agree.

Rewind: Biden trails off

Joe Biden lost his train of thought during Thursday’s debate while trying to make a point about tax rates and the number of billionaires in America.

Biden trailed off and looked down before mumbling about COVID and saying something to the effect that “we finally beat Medicare.”

When he tried to come back to finish his point, moderator Jake Tapper cut him off because his time was up.

Trump quickly interjected: “He’s right he did beat Medicare. He beat it to death.”

Debate turns to subject of abortion access

President Joe Biden blamed Donald Trump during teh debate for the deluge of state abortion restrictions since the fall of Roe v. Wade.

As president, Trump appointed three justices to the U.S. Supreme Court who helped form the majority that overturned the constitutional right to abortion — and he has taken credit for that during his campaign.

Highlighting Trump’s connection to the overturning of Roe v. Wade and its impact on pregnant people across the U.S. has become a cornerstone of Biden’s campaign. Biden has also warned that a second Trump term could lead to nationwide abortion restrictions.

Trump said on the debate stage that he believes in abortion ban exceptions “for rape, incest and the life of the mother.”

Those exceptions are at the heart of a case the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling on Thursday. Under Idaho’s abortion ban, women have been unable to get abortions in medical emergencies because the state only has an exception to save the life of the mother — not to save her health.

Trump repeated his catchall states-rights response when abortion rights came up, touting that he returned the abortion question to individual states after the overturning of Roe v. Wade, which once granted a federal right to abortion.

It’s an attempt to find a more cautious stance on the issue, which has become a vulnerability for Republicans and driven turnout for Democrats.

While Trump has repeatedly claimed “the people” are now the ones deciding abortion access, that’s not true everywhere.

Voters don’t have a direct say through citizen-led ballot measures in about half the states. In those that do allow such measures, abortion rights coalitions in several states this year have faced intense efforts by anti-abortion groups to thwart citizen initiatives on reproductive rights.

Voters in seven states, including conservative ones such as Kentucky, Montana and Ohio, have either protected abortion rights or defeated attempts to curtail them in statewide votes over the past two years.

Trump and Biden make multiple factual missteps

Both Joe Biden and Donald Trump made multiple factual missteps as the debate began on Thursday.

Biden started out his debate with a gaffe, claiming he had created 15,000 jobs. The correct number is more than 15 million, a dramatic undercount by someone trying to renew voters’ confidence in his economic leadership.

Biden also said, “It’s $15 for an insulin shot, as opposed to $400.” But out-of-pocket insulin costs for older Americans on Medicare were capped at $35 in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act that President Joe Biden signed into law. The cap took effect last year, when many drugmakers announced they would lower the price of the drug to $35 for most users on private insurance.

Trump said the U.S. economy was ready to start paying down its national debt before the pandemic. That’s not true. Budget deficits were increasing under Trump because his 2017 tax cuts didn’t pay for themselves as he had promised they would. Trump inherited a budget deficit of $585 billion and it ballooned to $984 billion in 2019, only to climb above $3 trillion in 2020 after the pandemic hit, according to the White House Office of Management and Budget.

And Trump’s claim that “millions” were admitted to the country from prisons and mental institutions is unsubstantiated. There is no evidence of that.

Trump opens debate by bragging about the state of the economy while he was in office

Donald Trump opened Thursday’s debate by bragging about the state of the economy while he was in office as well as his handling of the pandemic.

He said: “Everything was rocking good.

He also said the U.S. economy was ready to start paying down its national debt before the pandemic.

But that’s not true. Budget deficits were increasing under Trump because his 2017 tax cuts didn’t pay for themselves as he had promised they would. Trump inherited a budget deficit of $585 billion and it ballooned to $984 billion in 2019, only to climb above $3 trillion in 2020 after the pandemic hit, according to the White House Office of Management and Budget.

First question covers state of the U.S. economy

With the economy as the first issue of the debate, Joe Biden detailed what he described as an American economy “in freefall,” while Trump bragged about the state of the economy while he was in office, as well as his handling of the pandemic.

About 3 in 10 Americans said the economy was the most important problem facing the country in a May Gallup poll, but that included a range of economic issues.

About 1 in 10 pointed specifically to the high cost of living or inflation. About 2 in 10 Americans said immigration was the top problem facing the country, and another 2 in 10 said the government/poor leadership were the most important problem.