The Debate: Did It Move the Needle?

Vice President Kamala Harris introduced herself to Donald Trump with a handshake Tuesday night, a rather formal gesture to kick off an evening of animosity. The two candidates met for the first time on the debate stage just eight weeks before the election, at a time when Harris leads Trump by one point in the RCP Average. 

The high-stakes, long-awaited debate saw the candidates sling mud and spend little time conveying policy plans on key issues such as the economy, abortion, and immigration. Harris spent most of the night on the attack, goading Trump into raising his voice and forcing him to construct a defense made largely of exaggerations and boasts.

Harris intentionally picked multiple fights with her opponent, bringing up Trump’s criminal convictions, questioning the origins of his real estate empire, and saying of the 2020 election that Trump is having a “difficult time processing” the fact that he lost the presidency four years ago.

Harris attempted to bruise Trump’s ego time and again, perhaps most obviously when she suggested that people have been leaving his rallies early out of boredom. Trump took the bait, saying that no one goes to her rallies at all, before quickly retreating to his comfort issue: immigration. He brought up baseless rumors of Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, eating pet dogs and cats. Moderator David Muir interjected, saying the town’s city manager told ABC News there was no credible allegation that any pets had been harmed.

“Talk about extreme,” Harris chuckled about Trump’s tangent.

The debate highlighted just how different a candidate Harris is from President Joe Biden. She was able to communicate a clear and often heated message where Biden struggled to do so less than two months ago. Harris hammered on abortion specifically, a topic on which the Democratic position polls well.

“The government and Donald Trump certainly should not be telling a woman what to do with her body,” Harris said.

When Trump was asked about abortion, he repeated the false claim that some states allow for the “execution” of a baby after birth. Moderator Linsey Davis refuted the claim in real time, the first fact-check of several on Trump’s claims.

The behavior of the moderators drew fire from the right, with many feeling that Trump was unfairly targeted by their questions and fact-checking – while none of Harris’ claims faced scrutiny.

“This is an interesting debate format: 3-on-1,” Trump campaign surrogate Vivek Ramaswamy posted on X. 

Many were concerned about how Harris would hold up in a debate against Trump, having performed relatively poorly in the 2020 Democratic primaries. While the vice president arrived on stage visibly nervous and struggled with her first question, she quickly settled into a groove, using as a crutch those talking points that have played well on the campaign trail the past few weeks.

The Harris campaign must be pleased with the performance of their candidate after the disappointment they suffered when they learned there would not be a last-minute rule change concerning microphones. The Democrats wanted the candidates to have hot microphones for the entirety of the debate, with a goal of recreating Harris’ viral “I’m speaking now,” moment from her 2020 Vice Presidential debate against Mike Pence.

Instead, Trump threw the line back in Harris’ face. “I’m talking now,” Trump said. “That sound familiar?”

Harris’ goal going into the debate was to let voters know who she is and what she stands for – whether she did that is up for interpretation. Trump did not, however, hold her feet to the fire on many issues aside from immigration, which he polls well on and returned to nearly every time he was given the floor. 

While Harris was asked about her flip-flopping on a fracking ban, she was not pressed about her past support for publicized healthcare, reducing police funding, and a universal buyback on guns. Trump was too focused on platforming his grievances to spend much time on Harris at all – though he did make sure to call her a communist, a frontrunner among his myriad nicknames for the new Democratic nominee.

“She’s a Marxist – everybody knows she’s a Marxist,” Trump said.

Of whether Harris effectively conveyed her policy platform to the American people, Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) argued she failed to speak substantially.

“Did Kamala Harris answer the question of, do the Democrats have a nominee who looks the part? Yeah. But there was no substance,” he told reporters in the spin room after the debate. “It was all fluff, it was all show, it was all vibes, not concrete answers the American people need. It’s as if, frankly, I was rewatching her convention speech. That’s what I saw.”

For all the excitement, there seemed to be no race-defining moment for either side to latch on to. It is unlikely that the debate will move the needle one way or another, as few Americans remain undecided this late in the game. The candidates attempted to appeal to this dwindling subset of the population, Harris ending on an optimistic note and sharing a rosy vision of the future, Trump insisting that America is “a nation in serious decline.”

The Harris campaign requested another debate, but it is unclear whether the Trump team will accept. Vice presidential candidates Tim Walz and J.D. Vance are set to debate Oct. 1.