United States Presidential Election Debates

Timeline

Source: Commission on Presidential Debates - Debate history

Election	Number of presidential debates	Number of vice presidential debates
1960	Four debates between Vice President Richard Nixon and Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy	None
1964 1968 1972	No debates held
1976	Three debates between President Gerald Ford and former Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter	One debate between Kansas Senator Bob Dole and Minnesota Senator Walter Mondale
1980	† Three debates between President Jimmy Carter, former California Governor Ronald Reagan and Illinois Congressman John B. Anderson were scheduled; along with a Vice Presidential candidates debate between Vice President Walter Mondale, former CIA Director George H. W. Bush, and former Wisconsin Governor Patrick Joseph Lucey. Carter refused to debate if Anderson was present and Reagan refused to debate without Anderson, resulting in the first debate being between Reagan and Anderson only. The second debate and the Vice Presidential debate were both cancelled. Reagan conceded Carter's demands and the third debate took place with only Carter and Reagan.
1984	Two debates between President Ronald Reagan and former Vice President Walter Mondale	One debate between Vice President George H. W. Bush and New York Representative Geraldine Ferraro
1988	Two debates between Vice President George H. W. Bush and Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis	One debate between Indiana Senator Dan Quayle and Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen
1992	Three debates among President George H. W. Bush, Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton and businessman Ross Perot	One debate among Vice President Dan Quayle, Tennessee Senator Al Gore and former Vice Admiral of the Navy James Stockdale
1996	Two debates between President Bill Clinton and former Kansas Senator Bob Dole	One debate between Vice President Al Gore and former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Jack Kemp
2000	Three debates between Vice President Al Gore and Texas Governor George W. Bush	One debate between Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman and former Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney
2004	Three debates between President George W. Bush and Massachusetts Senator John Kerry	One debate between Vice President Dick Cheney and North Carolina Senator John Edwards
2008	Three debates between Arizona Senator John McCain and Illinois Senator Barack Obama	One debate between Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and Delaware Senator Joe Biden
2012	Three debates, between President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney	One debate between Vice President Joe Biden and Wisconsin U.S. Representative Paul Ryan