On September 10, former President Donald Trump and current Vice President Kamala Harris came face-to-face for the first time in a highly anticipated debate. Following Joe Biden’s perceived poor performance in the prior debate, the current President of the United States decided to cancel his campaign for re-election. Kamala Harris was quickly chosen by the Democratic Party to be the replacement candidate, and the two candidates agreed on the debate day.
The presidential debate took place at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Prior to the debate, the candidates agreed upon format rules in line with those of the previous Trump-Biden debate. The planned time for the debate was 90 minutes, with two commercial breaks. There was no audience, no opening statements, and no communication between the candidates and their campaign staff during the breaks. Additionally, the candidates were not allowed to ask each other questions; only David Muir and Linsey Davis, the moderators, were given this permission. Each candidate was allowed two minutes to respond to a question, two minutes to rebuttal, and one minute to clarify or follow-up. This kept a streamlined and fair debate where the candidates were on equal ground and had equal opportunity to speak.
The night began amicably as the two candidates shook each other’s hand before taking their place at their podium. The moderators began by addressing one of the biggest topics of interest for voters: the economy. This topic kicked off the main key points that each candidate was trying to land on each other. For Harris, she began by stating her plan of an “opportunity economy” while also implying that she believes Trump’s plan would benefit the rich. Harris elaborated further on her plan, stating that it would include “extending a tax cut for those [young] families of $6,000” as well as giving “a $50,000 tax deduction to start-up small businesses.” Trump responded by stating that his plan included tariffs on other countries. He continued by attributing the current inflation on the Biden administration and specifically stating that his administration had inflation at 21% while now “many things are 50, 60, 70, and 80% higher than they were just a few years ago.”
Another big topic of the night was abortion. Trump brought up his support for giving the right back to the state to decide but also brought up some claims about the opposing party supporting a vote to allow abortion at nine months. Davis followed this up by stating that “there is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it’s born.” Harris responded to Trump’s comments regarding abortion by noting that in over 20 states, there are “abortion bans which make it criminal for a doctor or nurse to provide health care.” She also affirmed that if Congress were to pass a bill to restore the protections under Roe v. Wade, she would sign it. Harris continued by stating that Trump would sign a national abortion ban, but Trump denied this claim, stating that there was no need for it since “Democrats, Republicans and everybody else and every legal scholar wanted it to be brought back into the states.” The discussion ended with Trump being asked whether he would veto a national ban if it came up, but he did not deliver an answer.
The topic of immigration and border security was under heavy scrutiny due to its importance to U.S. voters. Harris claimed that Trump had prevented a bill that would have put thousands more agents and officers at the border, but also commented about Trump’s rallies, claiming, “people start leaving his rallies early out of exhaustion and boredom.” Trump reacted to these comments by saying that people should not go to Harris’ rallies as “there’s no reason to go.” This interaction epitomized how some of Trump’s and Harris’s back-and-forths would drift away from the current topic toward unrelated attacks.
Following the debate, new polls were taken to see where Trump and Harris stood compared to before the face-off. Many polls showed similar results, with Harris leading Trump by a small margin. According to a poll done by Reuters following the debate, “Democratic U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris leads Republican Donald Trump 47% to 42% in the race.” A Fox News poll had a similar result where 49% of registered voters nationwide said they would vote or probably vote for Harris, while 44% said that they would vote or probably vote for Trump. Last week, Trump announced on Truth Social that he would not participate in another debate, so this could be the last time these candidates are seen face-to-face in this type of setting.
Election day is November 5 this year. If you want to show support for a candidate, don’t forget to register in advance. To register, you must be at least 18 years of age or older, and you can register online, by mail, or in person at some local government offices. For more information, you can go online to usa.gov/register-to-vote.
