Trump, Biden's Body Language Matters in Debate, Expert Reveals Key Gestures
Body language expert Patti Wood is weighing in on President Biden and Donald Trump's debate, and says just a few key gestures could impact who wins the war of words.
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00:00What we should be looking for tonight are how the candidates deal with the four first
00:07impression factors that have been found to be critically important to analyze who wins
00:12the debates.
00:13Those four first impression factors are credibility, likability, attractiveness, and power.
00:20And so tonight I'm going to be looking to see how Biden does on what he typically does
00:25very well, likability.
00:26He's very good at smiling, having the crinkles around his eyes, the sincerity and credibility.
00:33Trump is very good on the power factors.
00:36Specifically, he's really good when he gets on a talking point using anger and a louder
00:43voice, a scowl on his face to communicate power.
00:48And those two factors, likability for Biden and power for Trump, they're great on.
00:55I want to see how they also do on the factors they're not as good on.
00:59So will Biden puff up a little bit, take up more space?
01:04Will Trump smile?
01:07Not that smear side of the face smile he does when he's shooting a bit of humor, but a true
01:13smile that crinkles all the way up to the eyes.
01:15They're both older candidates.
01:18So I think depending on whether you're a Republican or a Democrat or an Independent, you want
01:22to see a powerful, strong candidate.
01:27So that's what we're going to be looking for in both of them with biases, obviously, depending
01:32on on what candidate you already like.
01:35But that will come through more naturally in a debate than it will in a speech where
01:40they've got the teleprompters up and they have that sing songy voice.
01:45So I'm also looking for more natural gestures, a more natural cadence in each speaker tonight.
01:52I think the debates offer a really great opportunity for Biden to show how he is throughout the
02:01entire debate and smooth delivery and calmness and an energy.
02:10So that's who I think we're going to be looking at closely in a debate setting.