For the second time this presidential election, this week will see another first.
Tuesday, ABC News will host the first presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, happening live from the National Constitutional Center in Philadelphia.
The debate will not only mark the first time Harris and Trump have met in person, but also the vice president’s first debate since becoming the Democratic nominee in August.
“Harris has reversed the anxiety that Democrats had going into the campaign with Biden into a joyful celebration of imaginable victory in November,” said Nicholas Cox, Ph.D., chair of HCCS’s history department. “Her poll numbers have risen, she has outperformed Trump for several weeks, and it now looks very good for her.”
As of Saturday, the RealClearPolitics polling average had Trump trailing Harris by less than two percent. The 538 forecast model showed Harris winning 55% of the time.
While it was a rocky June debate that led President Joe Biden to drop his re-election bid and endorse Harris, Cox said he doesn’t expect this debate to move the needle significantly.
“I tend to fall in the camp that debates do not matter that much. Partisanship is very high,” Cox said. “There really cannot be that many voters who have not already made up their mind for or against Trump.”
Still, with less than 60 days to go before Election Day, the professor said Harris has an opportunity to capture a more captive audience, providing more substance on her policies around inflation, immigration and the war in Gaza.
After both campaigns struggled over the rules for the Sept. 10 debate, ABC News announced Wednesday that microphones will only be live when each candidate is speaking.
Muted microphones benefited Trump in the June debate, with some analysts saying he seemed more restrained and presidential.
By comparison, the first debate of 2020 dissolved into an angry and divisive clash of personalities, with a frustrated Biden rebuking Trump for repeatedly interrupting him: “Will you shut up, man?”
Mike Doyle, chair of the Harris County Democratic Party, told the Egalitarian that Tuesday night’s debate will offer a clear contrast between the two presidential candidates.
“I would anticipate Americans to see as sharp a choice as possible between former President Trump, tearing down the America we all share and spewing whatever untruth pops into his head, and Vice President Harris, a seasoned fighter for the best America we can be, unapologetic and clear-minded,” Doyle said.
HCDP will host a free debate watch party at Axelrad Beer Garden, located a block away from the HCC Central Campus, at 1517 Alabama St. Festivities will begin at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.
The Egalitarian reached out to the Harris County Republican Party, but did not receive a response by press time.
