Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris appeared in a debate on Tuesday. Here’s what experts said about their performance.
The first, and likely only, presidential debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris has concluded.
The two candidates debated on Tuesday, and according to political experts at Northeastern University, their debating styles, policies and visions were clearly contrasting, testing each candidate in different ways.
“Harris is clearly trying to project authority, gravitas and maturity, and I think she’s done that very well,” said Martha Johnson, an associate professor of political science at Northeastern University.
The debate, hosted by ABC News in Philadelphia, comes as the race for the White House heats up, with the latest polls showing Harris and Trump within one percentage point of each other.
Nick Beauchamp, an associate professor of political science at Northeastern University and the owner of the election aggregator site, said Harris’ strategy appears to be two-fold.
“First, to differentiate himself from Trump, and second, to provoke him into anger and provoke some unattractive rants,” Beauchamp said.
Johnson said that, like the 2016 debate between Trump and Hillary Clinton, the gender dynamics were evident from the start.
“The split screen and camera angle worked to Harris’ advantage,” Johnson says. “She’s a short woman and Trump is quite tall. Height often matters in politics. The split screen made them appear the same height and build, which added to her dignity.”
Johnson said he believes Harris has taken the broadest possible view and presented herself as a president for everyone.
“She has tried to downplay controversial positions and focus on families, the working class and small business, and on a general message of stability, freedom and progress,” Johnson said.
“She clearly had a series of topics prepared that were sensitive to Trump, and she continued to make these sarcastic remarks even when they were not at the center of attention of her audience, because it provoked Trump to show his angry side,” Beauchamp said.
The rules for the debate will be similar to those for the Trump-Biden debate, with microphones being muted while each candidate is speaking.
Highlights and lowlights
Harris began by laying out her vision for what she called an “opportunity economy” and attacking what she called a “Trump sales tax” on the middle class. She was referring to Trump’s plan to further increase tariffs on imports, which she defended, noting that Biden has kept the tariffs largely intact.
Harris also initially mentioned Project 2025, a comprehensive plan to reform the federal government. Trump has denied having any involvement with the project, which was conceived by the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation.
“This is a group of people who put forward some ideas. Some were good, some were bad, but it makes no difference,” Trump said, noting that he is an “open book.”
The issue of abortion prompted a lengthy debate between the candidates, with moderator Lindsey Davis at one point interjecting to refute Trump’s false claim that some states allow the killing of babies after birth.
Asked if she would support some restrictions on abortion, Harris said she supported “restoring the protections of Roe v. Wade.”
“Nowhere in America can a woman who has carried a pregnancy to term seek an abortion. This is an affront to American women,” she said.
The hosts asked Harris why many of her policy positions have changed and pressed President Trump on whether he regrets the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
“Of all of Trump’s answers, the one I found most disturbing was his response to a question about January 6th,” Johnson said. “Not only is it factually incorrect to say there were no deaths on the other side, it’s a deeply disturbing benchmark for determining whether January 6th was peaceful.”
At the one-hour mark, the candidates were asked about their stance on the Israel-Hamas war, then on Russia’s war in Ukraine, followed by a lengthy dialogue on foreign policy and diplomacy. The evening concluded with a discussion of the candidates’ plans for fighting climate change.
How will this debate change the poll numbers?
Historically, presidential debates have had little impact on voter preferences, and David Lazer, distinguished professor of political science and computer science at Northeastern University, expects Tuesday’s showdown to have a similarly negligible impact.
“Even in the last election, the polls didn’t move very much,” Lazer said. “It was clearly a Biden fiasco. There was definitely panic amongst the Democratic elites. But the reality is the polls didn’t move very much.”
That’s because, as Lazer puts it, party support is pretty much secure at this final stage.
“If there’s really a stake here, it’s that there’s still a significant number of people who don’t have a very strong opinion of Harris, so this is the first opportunity for some voters to get to know her,” he said.
Tanner Stening is a reporter for Northeastern Global News. Email him at t.stening@northeastern.edu and follow him on Twitter @tstening90.