週一的川普 克林頓辯論可能成爲競選的決定性時刻

It could be the defining Moment of the 2016 campaign.

Monday's first presidential debate between Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump may draw, by some estimates, 100 million viewers, who will be able to take the measure of the candidates for the first time on the same stage together.

The stakes for both contenders are enormous. Viewers will not only be paying attention to what is said, but how it's said and how the candidates react to one another.

The debate will be a key moment for Trump, who has closed the polling gap in recent weeks against Democrat Hillary Clinton in part because he has presented himself as more disciplined than he has in the past. He has also focused on his central theme.

“We will make America strong again. We will make America safe again, and we will make America great again!” Trump told supporters at a rally in Fort Myers, Florida, one of the critical swing states where he has drawn even with Clinton in recent polls.

For her part, Clinton looks to the debate to reassure her supporters and to push her message of wanting to build a more inclusive economy, as she did during a recent rally in Orlando, Florida. “We are all of value. In the United States of America, the greatest country in the world, we believe everyone is created equal!”

Trump and Clinton appear to be prepping for the debates in different ways. Clinton has spent a lot of time in debate practice, including mock face-offs with surrogates portraying Trump.

Trump's advance work has been reportedly less time-consuming and intense. He also took a swipe at Clinton during a rally in Pennsylvania. “Well, they say she has been practicing for the debate. Some people think she's sleeping.”

Democrats hope a more reckless version of Trump shows up in the first debate, more in keeping with his past performances in some of the Republican primary debates. But Trump's new campaign staff seems to have had some success of late in keeping him focused and less distracted by the temptation of launching personal attacks.這可能是2016年總統競選的決定性時刻。

據估計，星期一，民主黨總統候選人希拉里·克林頓和共和黨總統候選人唐納德·川普的首次辯論有可能吸引1億觀衆，屆時人們將有機會對首次同臺的候選人進行評估。

這次辯論對兩位候選人都利害攸關。觀衆們不僅會留心他們所說的話，還會留心他們說話的方式，以及二人彼此間的應對。

這場辯論將成爲川普的關鍵時刻。最近幾周，他縮小了與民主黨人克林頓之間的民調差距，部分原因是他顯得比過去更加自律，而且把重點放在了他的中心議題上。

川普在佛羅里達州邁爾斯堡的一個集會上對支持者們說：“我們要使美國再次強大起來。我們要使美國再次安全起來，我們要使美國再次偉大起來。”佛羅里達州是關鍵的搖擺州之一，川普在最近的民調中已經與克林頓持平。

就克林頓而言，她期待通過這次辯論安撫她的支持者們，並推行她提出的希望建立一個更具包容性經濟的信息，正如她最近在佛羅里達州奧蘭多的一次集會上所說：“我們都是有價值的人。在美國這個世界上最偉大的國家，我們認爲人人生而平等。”

川普和克林頓似乎正在以不同的方式爲辯論做準備。克林頓花很多時間在辯論練習上，包括與扮演川普的人進行模擬對決等。

川普的準備工作據報沒有那麼耗時和緊張。他在賓州一個集會上抨擊克林頓說，“有人說她一直在練習辯論，也有些人認爲她在睡覺。”

民主黨人希望在首次辯論中川普會表現出他更爲魯莽的一面，就如他在一些共和黨初選辯論中所表現出的那樣。但川普新競選團隊的人員最近成功地幫助他保持專注，更少因進行人身攻擊的誘惑而分心。