In the second of three debates between presidential candidates, President Bush and Senator Kerry answered questions submitted by members of the audience in a town hall meeting format. Topics covered foreign and domestic policy, concentrating on Iraq policy, nuclear proliferation, the state of the economy, health care, taxes and jobs, and social issues.

The debate was shown in a full-screen format provided by the television network pool. Audience questions were summarized in the lower third of the screen as candidates answered.