Welcome to the online edition of From the Politics Desk, a nightly newsletter where the NBC News politics team brings you the latest reporting and analysis from the campaign, the White House and Congress.
In today’s edition, we analyze how panels of undecided voters in Arizona and Pennsylvania responded to the debate. Plus, chief political analyst Chuck Todd writes that Tuesday night portrayed Donald Trump more as an incumbent than an opponent.
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After the debate, undecided voters turned their attention to Harris but didn’t make a decision.
Emma Barnett, Alex Tabet, Kate Snow, Jacob Soboroff
Among the small number of voters who are still undecided about the 2024 election, some were moved by Tuesday’s debate, but at the same time, the debate may not be enough to completely make up their minds.
Several Arizona voters who previously disliked both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump expressed interest in the Democratic candidate during an NBC News panel after the debate. Three undecided voters who attended a similar poll in suburban Philadelphia were all undecided, with two turning to Harris and one to Trump, but they harshly characterized the debate overall as “rigged,” “false,” “boring,” and “the same old thing.”
Undecided voters in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, appeared to be more dissatisfied with one candidate than interested in the other.
Lynn Kelleher, a Republican who voted for Trump in 2016 and the Libertarian Party candidate in 2020, believes this election comes down to a choice between “voting with your wallet or voting with your morals.”
“I think Kamala had a good debate,” she said. “I like her better than Donald, but I’m not 100 percent yet.”
Hannah Read, an independent who supported Trump in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020, said she wants to like Harris but doesn’t think she has “policies that actually work.”
But after hearing Trump speak about abortion during the debate, Reid said she could not vote for him, although she is undecided about who she will vote for.
In Arizona, Dennis Lewis ran for president in both 2016 and 2020 after being unhappy with the options presented to him. Going into the debate, the Scottsdale resident was planning to run again. After the debate, Lewis said he was considering voting for Harris, but wasn’t completely sold.
“I would love to know more. As I said, Trump has been campaigning for a long time and now Harris is finally being put in the spotlight,” Lewis said.
Read more →
Harris dodged some big questions, but Trump’s lack of control hurt him
Chuck Todd
Tuesday’s debate felt, in many ways, very familiar: Just like the past nine years of politics, the entire debate revolved around one person: Donald Trump.
No one would swear that Trump had a good night, judged by any conventional yardstick accepted by veteran politicians of all stripes. He broke all the basic advice a candidate would receive before a debate: don’t take the bait, don’t think about yourself, don’t be too superficial, remember to talk to your opponent about his plans, talk about your strengths and avoid your weaknesses, etc.
On Tuesday, Trump was viewed and portrayed more as an incumbent than his opponent, simply because he was a poor debater. Of course, he’s always been a poor debater, but his natural ability allowed him to overcome situations that would normally falter a more conventional politician.
Trump’s closing statement marked his first attempt to effectively lock Kamala Harris into President Joe Biden’s administration. But it’s not the first time that Trump’s performance has been seen as potentially disqualifying by traditional measures. Yet nearly half the country continues to support him. Many see him as their voice against Washington and the elites, and many of those voters have learned to discount his lack of personal appeal by focusing on what they liked about his one term as president.
But if you went to the debate hoping to learn more about Harris and what she would do if president, you might have left feeling underwhelmed. Not only did Trump fail to connect Harris more directly to the Biden administration, but so did his questions. And Harris certainly took every opportunity to direct many of the questions aimed at her and the Biden-Harris administration at Trump.
Her strategy was very clear: avoid any details about Biden’s record and her role in it, avoid any changes to the positions she took in 2019 and this election, and turn every question and answer into an attack or provocation against Trump.
And it worked. And how do we know that? Because Trump went after all the shiny stuff she had to offer.
Continue reading Chuck →
Further after-effects of the debate
🗞️ Today’s top news
🤝 Reunion: After facing off on the debate stage, Harris and Trump met again and shook hands at a ceremony in New York marking the anniversary of the September 11 attacks. Read more → ⏰ Government shutdown showdown: With a government shutdown looming later this month, House Speaker Mike Johnson postponed a vote on a government budget and withdrew the bill from the floor after Republican lawmakers objected. Read more → 📫 Final countdown: Alabama became the first state to start mailing ballots for the 2024 general election. Meanwhile, election officials across the country have criticized the U.S. Postmaster General for not adequately preparing for the election. Read more → 🚫 Stand firm: Biden’s opposition to a Japanese steelmaker’s proposed takeover of U.S. Steel could test relations with a key ally. Continue reading → ⚽ Megadonor trends: Billionaire Ken Griffin, one of the biggest donors in Republican politics, has donated a “significant amount” to help fund the U.S. Soccer Association’s hiring of Mauricio Pochettino as the new men’s national team coach, The Athletic reports. Continue reading →
That’s all from the Politics Department. If you have any comments (what you liked, what you didn’t like, etc.), please email us at politicsnewsletter@nbcuni.com.
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