Sabato Calls on Debate Audience to 'Behave,' Be Quiet

There is a great deal of excitement heading into Monday night's presidential debate, but Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, said he hopes the audience will allow viewers to listen to the candidates, who enter the debates very close in the nation's polls.

"Three quarters of the people who will actually vote will be watching this debate," the longtime political activist told Fox News' Neil Cavuto Sunday afternoon. "I hope the audience behaves so that the viewership can actually listen to the candidates. ... Obviously, if we knew what the candidates were going to say, we would have a better idea what it is. But I think people are really going to be glued to this debate."

And as a result, said Sabato, those who watch the contest, being held at Hofstra University in Long Island, New York, will be "analyzing and probably over analyzing every single facial expression and every word by the two candidates."

It will be up to debate moderator Lester Holt to have a role in keeping the audience under control, said Sabato, but the audience will also be prepared before the candidates take the stage.

"Members of the presidential debate commission are coming out in advance to very carefully explain to the audience what their role is, which is to applaud in the beginning and in the end and otherwise let the candidates do their jobs," Sabato told Cavuto. "I hope the audience does the right thing. Some of the primary audiences did not do the right thing, as you'll remember."

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