Trump's conduct at debate was 'national embarrassment': Joe Biden

Joe Biden said Trump was a national embarrassment during the first presidential debate and the moderators should do more to prevent such interruptions in the future

Democratic nominee Joe Biden said US President Donald Trump was a national embarrassment during the first presidential debate and the moderators should do more to prevent such interruptions in the future.

The two presidential contenders squared off in a nationally-televised debate from Cleveland, Ohio on Tuesday. It was the first of three debates that will be held before the November 3 election.

"He not only attacked me and my family constantly but he attacked the moderator," Biden told reporters on Wednesday. "The President of the United States, conducting the way he did, I think it was just a national embarrassment."

Tuesday's debate devolved into a heckling match led by Trump, who constantly disobeyed pleas by moderator Chris Wallace of the Fox News network, to interrupt Biden while he answered questions. A CBS poll found that 80 per cent of viewers believed the tone of the debate was "negative".

"I just hope there's a way in which the debate commission can control the ability for us to answer the question without an interruption," Biden said.

Biden said he did not want to speculate on what happens in the second or third debate but did suggest moderators control microphones.

"My hope is that they're [moderators] able to literally say 'The question is asked to Trump. Here's the microphone. He has two minutes to answer the question. No one else has a microphone.' I don't know what the actual rules are going to be literally, but that's what seems to me to make some sense," he added.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Commission on Presidential Debates said it will make format changes to address these issues.

The two other presidential debates are scheduled for October 15 in Florida and October 22 in Tennessee.

Biden is ahead by 6.4 per cent on average in the most recent 11 national polls published on Realclearpolitics.com (RCP). However, because of the Electoral College format, statewide polls are more significant. Biden is slightly ahead in eight of the ten largest so-called battleground or swing states, according to RCP.