Feedback from both political camps in the US indicates that Kamala Harris clearly won yesterday’s debate.
A CNN poll found that 63% of voters rated her performance as the best. After Donald Trump and Joe Biden’s debate in June, 67% in the same poll preferred Trump.
According to the same CNN poll of undecided American voters, attitudes toward Harris improved by several percentage points after the debate.
But perhaps the best and most unexpected verdict of the Harris-Trump presidential debates was the statement by American singer Taylor Swift, calling for voting for the Democrats in the upcoming elections:
I am voting for Kamala Harris because she fights for rights and causes that I think take a warrior to stand up for. I think she is a confident, talented leader, and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we lead with calm instead of chaos.
Perhaps it is this secret weapon of the Democratic Party that will finally tip the scales in their favor. And even the second debate will no longer be needed for this, writes “European Pravda”.
Princeton University professor Daniel Kurtzer believes Harris is the clear winner.
Former President Donald Trump treated the debate like one of his rallies, Kurtzer wrote in a review of the university’s debate.
As Voice of America writes, he pointed out that Trump avoided giving direct answers, such as to a question about the storming of the Capitol by his supporters on January 6, 2022, or the fact that he did not support a bill to protect the border that had the support of lawmakers from both parties, or about his attitude towards dictators.
Politico adds the question of whether a Ukrainian victory is in the US’s interests to the list of questions Trump has tried to avoid answering directly.
Harris, unlike Trump, Kurtzer says, “was specific and combined detailed answers” to a policy question with “criticism of Trump’s weaknesses, criminal violations, and the fact that many of the officials who supported Trump had turned their backs on him.”
Another Princeton professor, Frances Lee, does not believe there was a clear winner in the debate.
Supporters of both candidates probably liked what they had to say, Lee says.
Harris appealed to voters who were still undecided, asking them to turn the page on chaos and discord. Trump appealed to voters’ nostalgia for a better economy and those who think immigrants are ruining the country.
Mikhail Alekseyev, a professor of political science at the University of San Diego, told Voice of America that Harris gained a slight advantage over Trump as a result of the debates, given Trump’s scandalous statements on immigration.
As for who is winning these debates now, my opinion is that Harris is generally more focused on the future, she is more focused on the middle class, and Trump has made several semi-scandalous statements, for example, regarding migrants who eat dogs and so on. That is, it seems to me that Harris has a slight advantage, says Alekseyev.
During the debate, Trump insisted that the influx of illegal immigrants across the border with Mexico was creating an emergency for the United States and increasing crime. He said, for example, that he had received reports from a small town in Ohio that immigrants were stealing dogs and other pets for food. The debate moderator said that ABC News reached out to local officials in the town, who denied the reports were true.
Alekseev considers it natural that foreign policy issues were raised only in the second half of the debates, since, as the scientist points out, it is economic and social issues that usually carry the greatest weight for voters.
For the Ukrainian community in Pennsylvania, where the debates took place, the candidates’ positions on Ukraine are important in these debates, says Honorary Consul of Ukraine and activist Irina Mazur.
We want to see a clear position on protecting Ukraine as a strategic partner of the United States,” Mazur told Voice of America in comments before the debate.
Traditionally, Pennsylvania has been very active, and especially our Ukrainian community has always been in active contact with legislators in Congress for many decades.
The consul adds that activists are working with representatives of the two leading parties in the United States to support Ukraine.
Trump himself praised the debate, calling it his “best debate,” despite what he called “three against one another,” suggesting that the debate moderators were on Harris’ side.
Trump’s vice presidential candidate, J.D. Vance, complained to ABC after the debate that the media “want to distract the American people from the real issues.”
Immediately after the debate, the Harris campaign called for a second debate in October. Trump did not respond to the possibility of participating in a second debate before the November 5 election.
Source: Racurs
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.