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| - US President Donald Trump and Joe Biden hold their final debate Thursday in a primetime television clash where even a plexiglass barrier and the moderator's mute button are unlikely to dampen sparks as the two men go at each other with only 12 days until the election. Whether the debate staged at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee -- starting at 9:00 pm Eastern Time (0100 GMT) -- can really shift the election is itself up for debate. Some 45 million Americans are estimated to have joined an unprecedented wave of early voting and polls indicate that almost all voters have already firmly made up their minds. Biden is steadily ahead, with a new Quinnipiac University national poll putting him up at 51 percent to Trump's 41. But the Republican's unpredictability and the sheer ferocity of an election that has seen a country at its most divided in decades means that this last direct confrontation in front of a huge live television audience will generate enormous buzz. Trump, 74, is expected to bore in on his long-running, though dubiously supported claim that Biden was corrupt during his vice presidency under Barack Obama. It's a tactic that worked in 2016 when a last minute intensification of his attempts to paint Hillary Clinton as dishonest arguably swung the narrow election to his favor. Biden, 77, is expected to focus on Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic which has left more than 222,000 people dead in the United States and millions unemployed. So far, polls indicate that Americans are far more worried about the pandemic than Trump's conspiracy theories. The Democrat has centered his whole campaign around his image as the more responsible, science-based leader. Trump has pivoted to an entirely different message, insisting that the United States is "rounding the curve" of the virus and presenting his own apparently rapid recovery from infection earlier this month as proof. On his way to Nashville, Trump tested negative, his chief of staff said on Air Force One. Debate organizers, however, have erected a sanitary screen made of plexiglass between the two candidates' podiums. With cases rising rapidly around the country as winter approaches, the Quinnipiac poll found that nearly six in 10 people think the coronavirus is out of control. "This is an important last opportunity for the candidates to talk to people who haven't voted," said Amy Dacey, executive director of the Sine Institute of Policy and Politics at American University. "This is probably one of the largest audiences they'll reach right before the election," Dacey said. "I think the Trump team must be looking at this as a must to reach people and convince people," said Dacey, a former chief executive officer of the Democratic National Committee. Kyle Kondik, managing director of the political newsletter "Sabato's Crystal Ball" at the University of Virginia Center for Politics, called it a last chance to "change the trajectory." "The stakes are high for both candidates though -- Biden wants to keep the race just where it is, and he doesn't want to provide any late fuel to the Trump campaign." The first 90-minute debate on September 29 blew up into an almost non-stop flurry of interruptions, insults and near-shouting. A majority of the disruption came from Trump. At one point, Biden turned to the president and told him to "shut up." A second debate planned for October 15 was cancelled after Trump came down with Covid-19 and declined to take part in a virtual debate. This time, moderator Kristen Welker, a White House correspondent for NBC News, will be armed with a mute button to ensure that each man can speak uninterrupted during portions reserved for statements. She has selected six topics: fighting Covid-19, American families, race in America, climate change, national security and leadership. "Hopefully he'll play by the rules," Biden said on his way to Nashville. But there's little guarantee of plain sailing. Earlier Thursday, Trump broke an agreement with CBS News when he released raw footage of an as-yet-unaired interview with the network, saying the journalist had been unfair to him. On Twitter, he then attacked the integrity of Welker, calling her a "radical Democrat" and "no good." sms/acb
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