To prepare for Sunday night’s town-hall-style debate, Hillary Clinton is not dwelling on five-point plans or attack lines.
Instead, she is practicing her body language, facial expressions, vocal cadences and more conversational answers about college debt, the heroin epidemic and other topics that have come up at her campaign events and that have allowed her to show empathy and emotion along with policy knowledge.
Trump and his advisers say Sunday night’s town-hall-style format, with its open stage and questions from real voters, will showcase his comfort on television and his direct style.
Trump must alternate between personable and piercing during the 90-minute debate.
Advisers want him to show interest, empathy, and even some humility, in his exchanges with the audience, while hammering Mrs. Clinton in a way that is not too off-putting.
Both campaigns say the town-hall-style exchanges with voters will reveal — for better or for worse — “the real Clinton” and “the real Trump.”