Kamala Harris will participate in her first presidential debate with Donald Trump tonight in Philadelphia
US Elections: Tonight in Philadelphia, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump square off in their first presidential debate at a moment when their campaigns are almost tied.
The former president is starting to close the polling advantage Harris has held since Joe Biden withdrew, giving Harris a high-stakes chance to recapture momentum in a contest that has lately narrowed dramatically with only two months before election day.
Both candidates are skilled debaters, according to Aaron Kall, director of debate at the University of Michigan, who told media reports that the event is expected to be watched by tens of millions of people.
“Donald Trump in 2016, part of the reason he was the Republican nominee was because of his success on the debate stage,” Kall added. “Obviously, in the last debate in June, he prevented President Biden from running for re-election.”
“Harris will operate in a more prosecutorial, systematic, and effective manner, much like in a courtroom. Trump, on the other hand, is a bit more impulsive and you never really know what he’s going to do—he never says no.”
Making her first appearance on the debate stage as a presidential contender puts more pressure on Harris.
Harris must pass the “commander-in-chief test,” which requires her to show that she is able to compete with a previous president who has a great deal of experience on the national stage. Kall conceded that Harris has a challenging challenge ahead of her.
“I think what she wants to do the most is to not fall into the trap of Trump and get into a tit-for-tat ad hominem attack, because it’s not going to fit well, and it won’t be perceived positively.”
One of Harris’s most difficult weeks since announcing her presidential campaign in July occurred last week.
There were many points of criticism, giving the impression that her campaign is about to undergo its first significant turning point.
Republicans have taken offense with the finding of six Israeli captives who were slain by Hamas last week, using Harris’s public warning against Israeli military action in the region as justification for their criticism of her ineffectual foreign policy.
In addition, Gold Star families who lost loved ones in the bombing of the Kabul airport in 2021 have chastised Harris for what they see as her complicity in the Biden administration’s poor handling of the country’s exit from Afghanistan. Harris had before chastised Trump for his contentious visit to Arlington Cemetery.
As to Silver’s analysis, the survey indicates a slight nationwide edge for Trump against Harris (48 percent to 47 percent), which “confirms” the recent shift in momentum in favor of Trump.
Immigration, inflation, and crime—three campaign topics that Trump has prioritized—will probably be at the center of his plan throughout the debates, according to Kall.
According to Kall, Harris must persuade viewers that she has shifted to the center from her 2019 campaign, in which she was among the most progressive contenders on matters like healthcare for undocumented immigrants, the Green New Deal, and fracking.
Kall claims that Trump views these subjects as areas in which “he has an advantage” and that the debate will be a crucial litmus test for whether he can remain disciplined in focusing on those themes or if he would give in to Harris’s attacks.
“Is he capable of letting it go or not? That’s a significant question, Kall remarked. “Some of the worst Trump moments—saying Hillary Clinton should be in jail, calling her a nasty woman—those sorts of things would have the potential to really hurt him,” he added.
