The first-ever debate between the GOP nominees and the Democrat nominees in 2024 took place in Philadelphia on ABC News on Tuesday night.
Trump, who eliminated incumbent President Joe Biden in the presidential race during the first and last debate between them this cycle back in June, is looking for an equally professional performance to keep the race moving in its current direction, which is breaking against Harris. Harris must turn around the free-fall she is in after her meteoric ascent when Biden dropped and she quickly became the nominee without any votes.
David Muir, Linsey Davies, and ABC will moderate the debate. It is scheduled to start at 9 pm Eastern time. As Trump has pointed out, ABC is one of the most biased networks against Republicans and in favor of Democrats. It will be interesting to watch if Muir, Davis, and Harris can be fair, or if they team up with Harris and try to kneecap Trump.
It will be the first time Trump has met Harris in person. The interaction between them could either be explosive or as boring as a conversation can be. The betting markets offer odds on whether or not the two will shake hands. This could be an important indicator of how the debate will unfold.
Harris, who has been a Democrat Party leader for a decade now, has largely avoided off-script and press moments. How she performs on a stage where candidates are not allowed to use pre-printed notes – they can only take notes live on the stage using a pen and paper – could make or break Harris’ chances of remaining in the race for the presidency. Trump’s campaign won the battle to maintain the rules of the Trump-Biden Debate from June, which cut off microphones for candidates when they don’t speak. Harris’s campaign wanted to alter the rules to manipulate Trump by using the live microphones in her favor. However, Harris failed to do so.
Trump’s campaign announced in advance that it would use the stage as an opportunity to do what many media outlets have not done: to vet Harris’s extreme and radical leftist record before the American public. Democrats and Harris’s team have repeatedly tried to lower Harris’s expectations in case her performance is as bad or as close as Biden’s in June. Democrats can’t drop Harris now like they did Biden. They’re stuck with Harris, come hell or high water.
Harris will need to be able to perform well at the plate or pitch a perfect match if she wants to alter the course of the race. Trump is currently leading in national polls, such as the one published by the New York Times this weekend. It remains to be determined if she can do that and create more than a few inevitable viral moments using a catchphrase.
The spin room and television coverage that follows the debate are almost as important as what happened. In the immediate aftermath of the debate, partisans try to capitalize on any gains their side made during the debate.
