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50 free Presidential Debates trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Presidential debates have decided elections since Richard Nixon refused makeup in 1960. These presidential debate trivia questions cover every famous moment: Gerald Ford's Eastern Europe blunder, Reagan's one-liners, Lloyd Bentsen's "you're no Jack Kennedy", Admiral Stockdale asking who he was, Bush checking his watch, the fly on Mike Pence and the June 2024 debate that pushed Joe Biden out of the race. Every answer is sourced, with a short explanation so you learn something even when you miss.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which year was the first general-election presidential debate held?
1960
Kennedy and Nixon met on September 26 at CBS's WBBM-TV studios in Chicago.
Q 02In which city was the first Kennedy-Nixon debate staged?
Chicago
Howard K. Smith moderated, with a panel from NBC, Mutual, CBS and ABC.
Q 03What did Nixon refuse before the first 1960 debate, leaving him with a five o'clock shadow?
Television makeup
His grey suit also blended into the set; he had recently lost weight after a hospital stay.
Q 04How many Kennedy-Nixon debates were held in total?
Four
Nixon regained weight, wore makeup and was judged to have won the second and third, but far fewer people tuned in.
Q 05Who moderated the first Kennedy-Nixon debate?
Howard K. Smith
Cronkite sat on the panel for the fourth debate instead.
Q 06How many years passed between the 1960 debates and the next general-election debates?
Sixteen
Johnson, Nixon and their opponents all declined until Gerald Ford agreed to debate Jimmy Carter in 1976.
Q 07The 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates were held during a race for which office?
US Senate
Douglas kept the Senate seat; the two men never debated when they ran for president in 1860.
Q 08How many Lincoln-Douglas debates were there?
Seven
Each ran three hours: a one-hour opening, a 90-minute rebuttal and a 30-minute close, with no moderator.
Q 09Which 1940 Republican nominee first challenged a sitting president to a debate?
Wendell Willkie
Franklin Roosevelt simply refused.
Q 10The first presidential primary debate, on radio in 1948, pitted Thomas Dewey against whom?
Harold Stassen
The two Republicans met in Oregon ahead of that state's primary.
Q 11What happened 81 minutes into the first Ford-Carter debate in 1976?
The audio cut out
Both men stood silently at their lecterns for 27 minutes while a blown capacitor was replaced.
Q 12Which region did Gerald Ford claim was free of Soviet domination in a 1976 debate?
Eastern Europe
The gaffe stalled his comeback; Carter won a very close election.
Q 13Which organisation sponsored the presidential debates in 1976, 1980 and 1984?
The League of Women Voters
The networks themselves had sponsored the 1960 debates.
Q 21Which moderator opened a 1988 debate by asking Dukakis about his wife being murdered?
Bernard Shaw
Dukakis's flat, policy-driven answer on the death penalty was widely seen as damaging.
Q 22Where was the first Bush-Dukakis debate held in September 1988?
Wake Forest University
Viewers were split on who won the Wait Chapel encounter, watched by about 65 million.
Q 23What minimum poll share does the Commission on Presidential Debates require for an invite?
15 percent
The rule is the main reason Libertarian and Green candidates have been shut out since 1992.
Q 14Who debated Ronald Reagan in the first 1980 debate after Jimmy Carter refused to appear?
John Anderson
Carter would not share a stage with the independent congressman, and Reagan would not debate without him.
Q 15Which phrase did Reagan use to deflect Carter in their single 1980 debate?
There you go again
He also asked voters whether they were better off than four years earlier.
Q 16In which city was the lone Carter-Reagan debate held on October 28, 1980?
Cleveland
It took place at the Music Hall just a week before the election.
Q 17What was "Debategate"?
Reagan's team obtained Carter's briefing book
The Reagan campaign's access to Carter's internal materials became public in 1983.
Q 18Whose "youth and inexperience" did Reagan promise not to exploit in 1984?
Walter Mondale's
The joke, in the second debate on October 21, defused the age issue after a shaky first debate.
Q 19Vice presidential debates have been held in every cycle since which year?
1984
The first, in 1976, was between Bob Dole and Walter Mondale; 1980's was cancelled.
Q 20Who told Dan Quayle "Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy" in the 1988 VP debate?
Lloyd Bentsen
Dan Quayle had compared his congressional experience to Kennedy's, a line he used routinely on the stump.
Q 24Who was the third candidate on stage in all three 1992 debates?
Ross Perot
A CNN/USA Today poll rated him the winner of the first debate over Clinton and Bush.
Q 25What was George H.W. Bush criticised for doing during a 1992 debate?
Checking his watch
Aides first said he was timing the other candidates; he later admitted he wanted to know how much was left.
Q 26Which 1992 vice presidential candidate opened with "Who am I? Why am I here?"
James Stockdale
Perot's running mate was a Medal of Honor recipient who spent more than seven years as a POW in Hanoi.
Q 27Where was the 1992 town-hall debate, the first of its kind, held?
University of Richmond
Voters rather than journalists asked the questions on October 15, 1992.
Q 28Which school hosted presidential debates in 1992, 2000, 2004 and 2016?
Washington University in St. Louis
It was also scheduled for 1996 before the candidates cut that year's debates from three to two.
Q 29Which network holds the record for moderating the most presidential debates?
PBS
Jim Lehrer of PBS alone moderated a dozen debates between 1988 and 2012.
Q 30How many commission debates did George W. Bush initially agree to in 2000?
One
He wanted one commission debate plus hour-long appearances on Meet the Press and Larry King Live before relenting.