Presidential debate to draw huge audience in Colorado and throughout nation

DENVER -- You could call it the Super Bowl of politics.

Monday night's debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton is expected to draw a television audience of 100 million people.

That would shatter the old record of 80 million who tuned in for the debate between Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter in 1980.

Political science experts said if you're hoping for a substantive policy debate, you might be wise to set your expectations low.         

“I would be very surprised how much more substance you’re going to hear on some of the issues,” said Dr. Norman Provizer, political science professor at Metropolitan State University of Denver.

Provizer said both Clinton and Trump need to have a good night, but if they don’t – they can recover.

“You can come back from a bad debate,” Provizer said. “President Obama did not perform well in the first debate in 2012 against Mitt Romney, but he came back from that to have two very good debates leading up to Election Day.”

In the latest polls conducted here in Colorado, Clinton appears to hold a razor-thin one-to-two percentage point lead over Trump, which is well-within the margin of error.