Biden's ABC town hall: Former VP lays out vision in stark contrast to Trump's
Highlights from Biden's town hall with voters in Philadelphia.
With less than three weeks to Election Day, Democratic nominee for president Joe Biden faced voters directly in an ABC News Town Hall from the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia on Thursday night.
The live special edition of "20/20" -- titled "The Vice President and the People" -- was moderated by ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos.
The primetime event followed a fiery back-and-forth on the fate of the second presidential debate, which was originally scheduled for Thursday in Miami but ultimately canceled last Friday.
The nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates changed its format to be virtual following President Donald Trump's positive COVID-19 diagnosis, to which Trump took issue, saying he wouldn't "waste" time in a virtual debate. With Trump's rejection of the event, Biden then agreed to participate in the town hall with ABC News.
Voters had the opportunity to ask the former vice president the questions most important to them
The event was held in accordance with state and local government health and safety regulations, as well as guidelines set forward by health officials.
Trump, at the same time Thursday, participated in a town hall from Miami with NBC News. The president participated in an ABC News town hall in September.
Latest headlines:
Biden speaks on race
Cedric Humphrey, a Black student, brought up race issues in his question to Biden.
Humphrey noted that young Black voters are conflicted between voting for Trump and not voting. He also made a reference to controversial comments Biden made in May during an interview for a radio show, which he later apologized for.
"So my question for you then is, besides 'you ain't black,' what do you have to say to young black voters who see voting for you as further participation in a system that continually fails to protect them?"
Biden brought up several proposals including expanding educational opportunities for all Americans, which he said propels people to a better economic standing.
"The federal government spends billions of dollars a year on universities because they're ... the best-kept secret of where most of the major inventions come out of," he said. "And so that school will now be able to produce young black women and men who are going to go into a field of a future that's burgeoning."
Biden also said he would expand a program under President Barack Obama that provided over $1.5 billion to small business associations across the country.
Stephanopoulos asked Humphrey if he heard what he needed to hear, to which the voter responded, "I think so."
Biden said he would speak with Humphrey after the town hall to answer any more questions.
What you need to know about Joe Biden
This is Biden's third run for president. Here's what you need to know about the Democratic presidential nominee.
Biden criticizes Trump on the economy
Anthony, a Republican voter from Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, asked Biden about his assertion that he wouldn't raise taxes on anyone making less than $400,000 a year and how that fit with his promise to repeal the Trump tax cuts.
Biden said that the majority of those tax cuts, $1.3 trillion out of a total $2 trillion, went to the wealthiest Americans.
"If you raise the corporate tax just back to 28%, which is a fair tax, you'd raise $1,300,000,000 by that one act," he said. "If you made sure people making over $400,000 paid what they did in the Bush administration, 39.6%, you'd raise another -- it goes up to, let me get you the exact number here -- about another 200 -- excuse me, $92 billion."
Stephanopoulos asked Biden if the economy could handle the tax increases after the (devastation) caused by the pandemic. Biden pointed to a Moody's analysis of his tax plan which said his plan would create 18.6 million jobs and raise the GDP by a trillion dollars. He also talked about the wealth that billionaires gained, while millions of Americans were out of work.
Trump "talks about a V-shaped recovery. It's a K-shaped recovery," Biden said. "If you're on the top, you're going to do very well. ... If you're at the bottom, or you're in the middle or the bottom, your income is coming down. You're not getting a raise."
Stephanopoulos pressed Biden on whether it's wise to raise the corporate tax when the economy is weak.
"We're going to invest a great deal of that money into infrastructure and green infrastructure," he said.
Biden talks about vaccine plan
Biden was asked by Republican Kelly Lee about his views and plans for a future coronavirus vaccine.
During last week's vice presidential debate, Sen. Kamala Harris said she would trust scientists over the president with regard to the validity of a vaccine.
Biden warned that Trump's rhetoric on vaccine and health guidelines have been questionable.
"President Trump says things like, you know, everything from this crazy stuff he's walking away from now, inject bleach in your arm and that's going to work," he said. "I'm not being facetious though. He actually said these things."
Biden said that he's been meeting with scientists and complimented them for their diligence in their research.
"They're not there yet," he said. "And the most scientists say -- it's not likely to have a vaccine that would be available until the beginning of next year, into the spring of next year."
Stephanopoulos asked if Biden would mandate a vaccine's use once it's safe and effective. Biden said it would depend on several factors.
"It depends on the state of the nature of the vaccine when it comes out and how it's being distributed," he said. "But I would think that we should be talking about, depending on the continuation of the spread of the virus, we should be thinking about making it mandatory."
Thursday's town halls focused on the candidates' plans and lack thereof
"World News Tonight" anchor David Muir asked ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl, who watched the dueling town halls, if the separate appearances moved the needle for people who were undecided.
Karl said that there are so few Americans who are undecided at this point.
"This is such a strange campaign. We have heard very little from either of these two men on about what they would actually do over the next four years," Karl said
Karl noted that after dodging questions on his stance on expanding the Supreme Court, Biden answered Thursday night after being pushed by Stephanopoulos.
"We have what appears to be a commitment that after the Amy Coney Barrett vote, he will tell the American people. He said voters have the right to know where he stands," Karl said.
During Trump's town hall, the president didn't answer a question from a voter on his plan for rising health care costs, something Karl said the president had four years to come up with.
"It was abundantly clear that he has absolutely no plan. This is something he's had four years, nearly four years in office, to come up with," Karl said.
"He basically said that what he has done is he's done away with the individual mandate with Obamacare, and then talked a little more about Obamacare is not a good thing, and we need something better, but absolutely nothing about what he'd actually do on health care," he added.