The second presidential debate of 2024 — and first between Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and Republican nominee Donald Trump — was Tuesday September 10th. ABC news held the 90 minute debate at Philadelphia’s National Constitution Center.
The candidates had 2 minutes to respond to questions on topics ranging from the economy to immigration, followed by a 2 minute rebuttal from the other candidate, and finally a 1 minute response. The presidential candidates’ microphones were muted when it was their opponents’ turn to talk to make the conversation easier to follow.
Going into the debate, the polls were very close with an almost 50-50 split, some polls show Harris leading by a point or 2 and some show the opposite with Trump in the lead. After the debate a CNN flash poll, with a margin of error of plus or minus 5.3%, had 67% of those interviewed give Harris the win while 33% gave it to Trump. The poll only surveyed 605 debate watchers which does not represent all registered voters.
Mr. Travegline, AP/Honors World History and AP European History teacher at Leesville, said, “It was refreshing to see Harris on the debate stage after a lot of time in the media questioning whether or not she could answer questions under pressure, most of those broad statements have been put to rest. Many of Trump’s critics will say he acted like he normally would in the debate, while his supporters will claim it was a pretty biased debate. Whether or not one or the other had a better debate really just comes down to who you plan on voting for. That’s ultimately how a lot of these debates go as far as the victor.”
Unlike the CNN debate between then Democratic nominee Joe Biden and Donald Trump in June, ABC moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis performed 4 separate fact checks–all directed towards former President Trump.
The economy and immigration were the most contentious topics with each nominee presenting their wildly different plans on each topic. Former President Trump is seeking to place a 25% tariff, a tax on imports, on all goods and deport illegal immigrants en masse. Meanwhile, Vice President Harris wants to give the middle class tax breaks while raising corporate taxes and raise the amount of scrutiny in the immigration process.
Mr. Trav said the economic topics “Went about as well as I thought they would. I thought there was a lot of dodging and redirecting. I think Harris did lay down some groundwork to what she envisions, if she would become president, but I don’t think it was enough to satisfy people as a whole. The same could be said for Trump: His policies are already out there, but he did not do a good job at making sure people heard them”
Voters will decide who will lead the United States of America on November 5.
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