President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump agreed to rules ahead of CNN debate, and affordable housing could be an important issue heading into November.

Mic muting, coin flips, no notes: CNN announces rules for Biden-Trump debate

The first debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump is about two weeks away, and the network hosting the debate has provided the rules that the two candidates are expected to abide by.

The debate will take place Thursday, June 27, at CNN’s studio in Atlanta — a key city in the crucial battleground state of Georgia. It will be moderated by anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, and the roughly 90-minute debate will include two commercial breaks.

According to the rules, which were agreed upon by both candidates’ campaigns, both Biden and Trump will stand at neutral podiums, and the positioning of those podiums will be determined via coin flip.

Candidates' microphones will be muted during the debate until it is their turn to speak — seemingly an effort to limit interruptions and crosstalk.

There will be no audience at the debate, and no props or pre-written notes will be permitted. However, each candidate will be given a pen and a pad of paper with which to take notes, as well as a bottle of water.

CNN said that in order to qualify for the debate stage, candidates must meet the thresholds to be a candidate under the U.S. Constitution, as well as be on the ballot in enough states to reach 270 Electoral College votes — enough to win the White House — and receive at least 15% in four national polls that meet the network's standards.

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is working to get on the ballot in several states, has been fighting to get on the debate stage, even going as far as to file a complaint with the Federal Election Commission alleging collusion between the network and the Biden and Trump campaigns.

The debates took shape last month after Biden challenged Trump to face off, forgoing the traditional debates sponsored by the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates. The second will take place in September and will be hosted by ABC News.

Trump quickly accepted and later challenged Biden to additional debates, including one hosted by Fox News in October, but Biden's campaign said no.

Affordable housing top of mind for Gen Z this election

A new survey finds the most important issue for Gen Z voters isn’t the economy, immigration or reproductive rights, but affordable housing.

In a new survey from Redfin, 91% of people aged 18 to 27, the Gen Z generation, said housing affordability is the most important issue for them this election, followed by the economy and education. Housing affordability ranked as the third biggest issue for millennials, fourth for Gen Xers and sixth for Baby Boomers.

“This is a topic that we’re not going to necessarily going to solve overnight ... I don’t know the presidential election is going to solve this problem,” North Carolina real estate agent Maya Galletta said.

Fast-climbing home prices were also a problem when Donald Trump was president. According to Freddie Mac, a housing shortage was also an issue.

Trump’s campaign told Spectrum News his affordable housing strategy includes cutting taxes for families, freeing up appropriate federal land for housing and stopping illegal immigration. 

Over the past year, the Biden administration announced steps to increase the housing supply and lower costs, including grant money for lower-cost manufactured housing, and efforts to address zoning barriers that limit housing.

But Urban Institute Principal Research Associate Jung Choi said the actions alone won’t necessarily bring down all housing costs. Private companies, state and local governments have a role, and today’s high interest rates are also key.

“(The) housing market is very, very complicated. There are a lot of factors. There is no one solution,” Choi said. “We have a lack of new construction and also have a lack of home sales among the existing homeowners.”

Choi said it’s very difficult for younger people, especially those with less personal or family wealth, to enter the home buyer market.

Biden's campaign announces $50M ad blitz highlighting Trump's conviction

President Joe Biden's reelection campaign is spending $50 million through the end of June, a blitz that includes its first television ad trumpeting Donald Trump's felony conviction, and signals that the Democratic incumbent is seeking to make his Republican opponent's legal woes a bigger issue heading into November.

The advertising push comes with Election Day still more than five months away. But Biden's campaign said it wants to more clearly define the choice between the candidates ahead of their first debate in Atlanta on June 27.

The ad campaign includes more than $1 million geared toward media reaching Black, Hispanic and Asian American voters, and a spot highlighting Trump's conviction on 34 felony counts in a New York hush money case. It will air on general market television and connected TV on streaming devices and cellphones in battleground states as well as on national cable.

Besides Trump's criminal conviction, the ad, titled "Character Matters," notes the former president was also found liable for sexual assault and financial fraud in separate proceedings. Trump also faces felony charges in three other criminal cases, none of which may go to trial before the November election.

"This election is between a convicted criminal who's only out for himself and a president who's fighting for your family," intones the ad's narrator over images of a Trump mug shot and Biden high-fiving supporters.

Biden also has frequently talked about Trump's 34 felony convictions while decrying the former president for claiming that the case against him was politically motivated. Biden argued that "it's reckless, it's dangerous, it's irresponsible for anyone to say this was rigged just because they don't like the verdict."

Biden's son Hunter last week was convicted in Delaware of three felony charges related to the purchase of a revolver in 2018, when he lied on a mandatory gun purchase form by saying he was not illegally using or addicted to drugs. The president has said he would accept the outcome of the case and "continue to respect the judicial process as Hunter considers an appeal."

A central part of Biden's reelection strategy is also highlighting Trump's policy proposals for a second term and firing up disaffected Democrats and independent voters. Still, the campaign producing an ad that leans heavily into Trump's conviction and including it in such a large advertising buy indicates a renewed effort to make Trump's legal problems an election issue in ways Biden's team previously resisted.