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Five Things to Watch for During the Presidential Debate
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Five Things to Watch for During the Presidential Debate

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump will meet in person for the first time on Tuesday during the US presidential debate.

Harris has turned the race on its head since replacing President Joe Biden as the Democratic frontrunner in July, breathing new life into her party’s campaign.

According to Financial Times polls, the vice president now has a 2.9 percentage point lead over Trump, but her lead has narrowed slightly in recent days and the presidential race remains extremely close.

Here are five things to watch for when the candidates meet in Philadelphia at 9 p.m. ET.

Who will look most like a president?

Tuesday’s rules follow a similar format to the Biden-Trump debate, with each candidate’s microphone turned off while the other speaks and there is no live studio audience.

Harris and Trump will face questions from ABC anchors Linsey Davis and David Muir, with two minutes to respond and two minutes to rebuttal, with an additional minute to follow up. No prepared notes will be allowed.

Harris will be in the spotlight as Trump is better known to voters.

“I think the stakes are high for both of them, but even higher for Harris,” said Hans Noel, a government professor at Georgetown University. “This is the first time we’ve seen her speak and directly defend herself, talk about policy, respond to Trump’s line of attack, and so forth.”

Noel said he will also watch to see if Trump employs new tactics against his opponent. The former president has struggled to adjust to his new rival, relying on personal attacks on Harris, including questioning her racial identity and reposting a sexist social media post.

Who will define Harris?

Both candidates will be trying to achieve a simple goal during the debate: define Harris for a voting public that knows far less about her than it does about Trump.

The former president is still developing effective offensive strategies against his opponent, but polls released over the weekend show he may finally be blunting her momentum.

Trump has tried to paint Harris as a radical communist and a policy shifter. He has also ridiculed her mannerisms, calling her “Laughing Kamala.”

The debate “is a very big moment” for Trump that he should make the most of, Republican strategist Kevin Madden said. “He’s got 90 minutes to offer a really targeted attack on Harris … and that’s better than any 30-second commercial that airs 100 times between now and Election Day.”

The event is even more important for Harris. She introduced herself to the public at last month’s Democratic National Convention, but the debate will be a chance to tell voters more about her proposals.

After criticism that her campaign contained relatively few policy elements, she will also have to convince voters of the content of her plans.

Will Prosecutor Harris Go After Trump, the Criminal?

Harris has made her experience as a prosecutor a central part of her political identity and has been more willing than Biden to take on Trump during the campaign over his convictions.

“I know Donald Trump’s type,” Harris said in her DNC speech. “I’ve dealt with people like him my whole career.” She galvanized the crowd by comparing her time chasing “predators” and “fraudsters” to the former president’s court appearances and legal troubles.

Trump, who is fresh off a legal victory after the sentencing in his “hush money” case was delayed until after the election, has in turn accused Harris of being a “radical” prosecutor and a “weak prosecutor,” and he is likely to repeat the accusations during the debate.

Whose economic vision will resonate?

The economy remains the top concern for voters as high prices continue to strain their finances.

Harris and Trump will lay out their competing economic visions for how to lower the country’s high cost of living.

Trump wants to cut taxes, extend the austerity measures he implemented in 2017, boost energy production, slash government spending and enlist Elon Musk to pursue aggressive deregulation. He also plans to impose sweeping tariffs on imports in a revival of his “America first” economic agenda.

Harris, on the other hand, wants to raise taxes on wealthy individuals and large corporations to expand the social safety net and give small business owners tax breaks and child care tax credits. She also wants to crack down on rent control, though she did not provide many details, raising concerns among some economists about price controls.

Trump is expected to continue blaming the Biden administration for the high cost of living, while Harris will emphasize falling inflation and the millions of jobs created during her tenure with Biden.

For most of this year, voters have indicated they trust Trump more when it comes to the economy, but an FT-Michigan Ross poll last month found that had changed, with more voters trusting Harris on this issue.

Who will be stronger on the issues of immigration and abortion?

Harris and Trump are trying to capitalize on their positions on two key issues for American voters: abortion and immigration.

Trump is on the defensive on abortion rights and has struggled to define his position. He is trying to balance the religious anti-abortion voters who form a core of his base with the moderate and independent voters who generally support reproductive rights.

Harris, a vocal advocate for reproductive rights, will attempt to link the former president to the Supreme Court’s 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade, a move made possible by the appointment of three conservative justices during Trump’s presidency.

Meanwhile, the ex-president will attempt to criticize the Biden administration for a surge of migrants across the U.S.-Mexico border on his watch. He will also attempt to pin the blame on Harris, who was tasked by the president with addressing the root causes of migration from Latin America.

Republican strategist Doug Heye said, “If (Trump) can be focused” when Harris said she would do something on any area, including border security, all he had to say was, “You’ve been here three and a half years — why haven’t you done anything?”

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