As the midterm elections get closer, the women of “The View” think debates are a necessary component to make good voting decisions — even debates with people who are lying about the 2020 election.
To start the day’s Hot Topics on Friday, moderator Whoopi Goldberg cited a recent report from The Washington Post, which highlighted the fact that there are 299 Republican candidates running who are still endorsing the lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Trump. As a result, multiple Democrats have said that they will not debate their opponents.
And while the women of “The View” agree that the lies should not be allowed to continue, they also agreed that the better way to stop it would be to call it out and debunk it in televised debates.
“I mean, how does that work? How are you going to say ‘No, I’m not going to do it,’ and then they stand up there and continue to push the lie,” Whoopi said, adding that Democrats also “have an obligation” to prove why people should vote for them.
Host Ana Navarro argued that, in reality, letting elected officials get out of answering questions in general has set a bad precedent on both sides — specifically calling out Arizona Democrat Kyrsten Sinema.
“I, frankly, think it should be required of anybody running for office that they agree to debate because it’s optional,” Navarro said. “It should be a requirement, because a lot of these people, once elected, you know, run into bathroom stalls and don’t like to answer questions from voters and don’t like to face them.”
Sara Haines added that debates shine a light on more than just policy, but also how candidates actually respond to real-world conflict.
“Those debates not only show us what they feel on policy, which you can find on a website, it shows you if they make you feel better when you listen to it,” she said. “How they deal with a challenged point of view, how they come back. There’s a lot more we pick up from that. So to not give us that chance… is not fair.”
Navarro added that one deterrent for candidates is the fear of slipping up and saying something embarrassing in public.
“People don’t like to debate because of the chance that there’s a mistake made, that’s going to be a costly mistake that could cost the election. Who cares?” she said. “You owe your voters to tell them exactly what your positions are, to answer hard questions, to answer policy questions, not just — we should not have to vote based on 30-second and one-minute attack ads.”
You can watch the full segment from “The View” in the video above.