Debates are theatrics the grand majority of the time. When their policies are that vastly different, who is the debate really serving other than it being a vestigial form of politicking. They don't have nuanced variations of the same policy. There may be a small contingent of folks riding the fence (fucking how?), and maybe that's enough to eek out a win. IDK. Dorks like Ben Shapiro have really soured me on the idea of debates. In the internet age, it's incredibly easy to look at policies, find soundbytes, and find non-debate speeches online. Which are far better, imo, of finding out what a politician is going to fight for.