With growing momentum in polls, a solid debate performance by Donald Trump Monday night could catapult the GOP candidate into official front-runner status.

A steady drip of scandal and controversy has eroded Hillary Clinton’s once-comfortable lead, and the two candidates will walk onto the debate stage tonight effectively neck and neck nationally.

“The debates could be a turning point for Trump.”

Moreover, polls released over the weekend and on Monday reveal Trump to be within striking distance of Clinton in crucial battleground states like Pennsylvania and Colorado. Victory in Monday night’s debate — and a solid lead — may well be Trump’s for the taking.

It was once accepted orthodoxy among the political class that a decisive Clinton victory was inevitable in a one-on-one debate against Trump, but the political stars have aligned in Trump’s favor. Trump enters the debate from a position of strength, while Clinton will enter from one of weakness.

Clinton will likely need to address questions about her use of private email servers while at the State Department and the FBI’s criminal investigation of that use. She may also need to address questions about pay-to-play and other scandals emanating from the Clinton Foundation. Finally, all eyes will be watching her closely for the slightest indication of health problems.

[lz_jwplayer video=0KMqmjN3]

On the other hand, all Trump needs to do is convince the mass of currently undecided voters that he is not the monstrous, bigoted caricature that Clinton and her allies in the mainstream media have created.

“The debates could be a turning point for Trump,” noted James Fallows, chair in U.S. Media at the United States Studies Centre and former speechwriter for Jimmy Carter, writing in the The Atlantic.

[lz_graphiq id=e7HCrg9ybIh]

“As a two-term governor of California, Ronald Reagan was a vastly more experienced public figure than Donald Trump is now,” Fallows wrote. “Still, it took seeing him toe-to-toe with an incumbent president for many viewers to imagine him as commander-in-chief.”

Who do you think would win the Presidency?

By completing the poll, you agree to receive emails from LifeZette, occasional offers from our partners and that you've read and agree to our privacy policy and legal statement.

Pat Buchanan, whose 1992 and 1996 bids for the GOP nomination mirrored closely Trump’s “America First” message, also noted parallels to Reagan’s debate with Carter.

“Reagan won his debate with Carter because his sunny disposition and demeanor and his ‘There you go again!’ airy dismissal of Carter’s nit-picking contradicted the malevolent media-created caricatures of the Gipper as a dangerous primitive or an amiable dunce,” Buchanan wrote on his blog.

Much like with Trump, media liberals spent the run-up to the 1980 presidential debates creating a caricature of a reckless Reagan whose lack of experience and shoot-from-the-hip attitude would not only threaten America’s stability but world peace in general.

[lz_third_party align=center includes=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGhGx5PhDTg”]

But once Reagan proved in front of the country that he was not some unhinged, inept right-wing lunatic, all those who were attracted to Reagan’s ideas but afraid of his image were on board, and he would go on to win the presidency in a landslide.

“The winner of presidential debates is not the one who compiles the most debating points. It is the one whom the audience decides they like, and can be comfortable taking a chance on,” Buchanan noted.

[lz_related_box id=”211554″]

Politicos have known this reality since the very first televised debate featuring Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy in 1960. Indeed, much like Reagan’s debate performance two decades later, Kennedy’s proved he could be trusted to lead — despite having no experience in governing and little in policy compared to the seasoned Nixon.

“Kennedy won the first debate, not because he offered more convincing arguments or more details on the issues, but because he appeared more lucid, likable and charismatic, more mature than folks had thought,” Buchanan wrote. “After that first debate, Americans could see JFK sitting in the Oval Office.”

As long as Trump remains cool and confident — and doesn’t get angry, aggressive, or flustered — he will go far to convince those who are still hesitant that he is worth taking a chance on. And as the American people’s confidence in Trump begins to rise, so will his poll numbers.