Presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump had their first presidential debate on Sept. 10 in Philadelphia as recently Harris won the Democratic delegates nomination which promoted her as the Democratic nominee replacing current President Joe Biden.
Harris, being the newer presidential candidate, looked nervous to start but throughout the debate began to become more confident, highlighted by a moment where Trump made the claim that he had lost the 2020 election by a “whisker,” and she turned towards him, making faces and shaking her head as he spoke.
After the debate, Harris’s campaign released a statement that said that she was open to a second debate in October, however, Trump disagreed, calling it rigged. Trump repeatedly claimed the debate “was three on one,” with moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis fact checking Trump multiple times throughout the debate.
One of the biggest issues in the debate was abortion rights. Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court case in which the court originally ruled that the Constitution protected the right to have an abortion was overturned in 2022, with Trump praising the Supreme Court’s ruling and in the debate saying, Democrats support “execution after birth.” Harris promised that if Congress passed a bill to reinstate the law she would “proudly sign it into law.”
Some of the foreign policy issues that the candidates discussed were the war in Ukraine, and a cease-fire deal in Gaza.
On the war in Ukraine, Harris has said she will support Ukraine for “as long as it takes” backing the decision of the Biden administration to arm Ukraine and rally support from other European countries. She made the argument that if Russia is allowed to terrorize Ukraine it could allow Russian president Vladimir Putin and other authoritarian governments to attack other countries. Trump on the other hand has claimed that if he was elected he would stop the war within 24 hours, not specifying how he would do so. Earlier in the year, Trump described Putin’s recognition of breakaway Ukrainian territories as “genius”.
The candidates have vastly different positions with the war in Gaza with Harris pushing for de-escalation and a cease fire deal to be signed, including the return of hostages and a two state solution that would allow Israel and Palestine to be identified as separate states. Trump insists that the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel would have never happened if he were President. He pushed for a rapid end to the war, however, he hasn’t disclosed the conditions in which the end of the war would happen and has also not articulated a peace plan in the Middle East.
Immigration has been a major talking point for the former president with Trump promising a crackdown on migration, with his famous promise of building a border wall removing “illegal alien gang members and criminals.” Harris opposes the wall and the separation of families because of immigration, however, The Biden campaign backed a bipartisan bill that would make it harder for asylum seekers to enter the country.
Harris took repeated digs at Trump throughout the debate saying, “Donald Trump was fired by 81 million people.” Harris repeatedly brought up the January 6th insurrection, an attack on the Capital after Trump felt he wrongfully lost the 2020 election. Harris’s position was one of “protecting democracy.” In a poll earlier this year, 538 published that undecided voters said that Trump’s actions were one of the main concerns they had in supporting the former president.
After the debate, Taylor Swift endorsed Kamala Harris on Instagram.
“I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 Presidential Election,” Swift said. “I’m voting for @kamalaharris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them. I think she is a steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos.”
According to a CNN poll, 63% of people watching the debate said that Kamala Harris won, while 37% of people said that Trump won. Prior to the debate, voters were evenly split on which candidate would perform better. On June 27, 2024, when current President Joe Biden and Donald Trump debated, the numbers were essentially opposite with 67% of people saying Trump won the debate compared to Biden’s 33%.
