For the first time, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are slated to go head-to-head in a US presidential debate on Tuesday. Harris’s rise to the top of the Democratic ticket in July in place of President Joe Biden has injected new vigour into her party’s campaign. Despite the vice-president currently leading Trump by 2.9 percentage points on a national scale, as stated by the Financial Times’s poll tracker, her advantage has seen a slight decrease recently, indicating a tight presidential race.
The candidates will come face-to-face in Philadelphia at 9pm ET, and there are five key points to keep an eye out for during the US Presidential debate. A major focus will be on determining who appears more presidential during the debate.
Set to parallel the format followed in the Biden-Trump debate, the candidates will take turns speaking with their microphones cut off when not in use. No live studio audience will be present. ABC anchors Linsey Davis and David Muir will be directing questions to Harris and Trump, providing two minutes for each answer, a two-minute rebuttal, and a further follow-up minute. No prepared notes will be permitted.
As Harris is lesser known to the electorate compared to Trump, she is likely to be under increased scrutiny. Georgetown University government professor Hans Noel commented, “The stakes are high for both, but even more for Harris.” Noel is eager to see how Harris would handle herself directly, discuss policies and respond to Trump’s attacks.
Noel will also monitor how Trump handles his new opponent, considering how he has struggled in the past, relying on personal jabs against Harris, including questioning her race and sharing sexist posts on social media.
It will be interesting to see how both candidates try to sculpt a public image of Harris during the debate. Although the former president is struggling to develop effective criticisms against his rival, weekend polls show that he might have begun to slow down her momentum.
Trump has been working to portray Harris as a fervent communist and inconsistent in her policies, even going as far as hilariously labeling her as “Laughing Kamala”. Trump must maximise this debate, a significant occasion-based opportunity, believes Kevin Madden, a Republican tactician. The strategist suggests that Trump can better utilise this 90-minute platform to launch a concentrated attack on Harris, as it would be far more effective than any run-of-the-mill, half-a-minute advert that plays repeatedly till the day of the election.
The debate, however, is even more pivotal for Harris. Having made her initial introduction to the public during the previous month’s Democratic National Convention, the debate gives her a chance to provide voters with a deeper understanding of her proposed plans. In light of feedback that her campaign is somewhat lacking in policy, she must now persuade voters of the weightiness of her plans.
The question that lurks is whether Harris will utilise her prosecutorial background to tackle Trump’s criminal past. Harris has consistently highlighted her experience as a prosecutor in her political journey and has shown more inclination than Biden to target Trump on the campaign path for his criminal previous convictions.
In her speech at the DNC, Harris expressed her familiarity with individuals of Trump’s ilk, stating she has handled people like him throughout her career. By taking advantage of her history dealing with “fraudsters” and “predators”, she has managed to enthuse crowds as she presents a contrast to the ex-president’s court visits and legal issues. On the other side, Trump, recently bolstered by a legal win when his “hush money” case sentencing was postponed until after the election, has retaliated by describing Harris as a “radical” prosecutor and a “soft-on-crime district attorney”. These allegations are expected to be echoed during the upcoming debate.
However, the main subject that seems to be on the voters’ minds is the economy, especially considering the prevalent high costs affecting their finances. Trump and Harris are poised to present their differing economic strategies to combat the country’s exorbitant living costs during the debate.
Trump’s plans involve further reductions in taxes, an extension of the cuts he implemented in 2017, boosting energy production, cutting government expenditure, aggressive deregulation through collaborating with Elon Musk and imposing comprehensive tariffs on imports, aligning with his “America first” economic strategy.
Harris, has plans to increase taxes affecting the rich and large corporations in a bid to expand the social safety net, and to provide tax perks to small businesses and child care tax credits. She is also keen on challenging pricing manipulation, but hasn’t provided much detail, prompting worries among certain economists about price regulation.
In contrast, Trump continues to lay the blame on the Biden administration for the increased cost of living. Alongside this, Harris focuses on the decline in inflation and the creation of millions of jobs since her and Biden took office.
Previously this year, most voters confided more in Trump regarding the economy. However, a recent FT-Michigan Ross survey indicated a shift in opinion, with a greater number placing their trust in Harris.
Looking at poignant issues such as immigration and abortion, both Trump and Harris hope to leverage their respective stances to win US voters. Trump, on the defence regarding abortion rights, is grappling to form a clear stance that won’t isolate moderate and independent voters who typically support reproductive rights, while still appeasing the religious anti-abortion voters at the core of his support base.
Harris, a staunch advocate for reproductive rights, will connect her past president with the 2022 repeal of Roe vs Wade by the Supreme Court, a possibility brought about by the appointment of three conservative justices during Trump’s term.
Conversely, Trump will attempt to cast blame on the Biden administration for the wave of immigrants crossing the US-Mexico border whilst they’ve been overseeing. He will also aim to place direct blame on Harris, appointed by Biden to examine the root causes of migration from Latin America.
Doug Heye, a Republican strategist, mentions that all Trump needs to state, when Harris promises to do something on any subject, including border security, is to question why she hasn’t done anything yet in her three and a half years in office – Financial Times.