Donald Trump and Kamala Harris came face to face for the first time in a 90-minute debate held at the National Constitutional Centre in Philadelphia. Harris, who is a trained prosecutor, used her skills to showcase Trump’s shortfall whereas Trump focused on presenting Harris as a liberal and also aimed to gain backing from the suburban women who have maintained a distance from him because of his leadership style.
Here are the points that were discussed during the debate:
1. Harris began by criticizing Trump’s trade policies, especially the tariffs that will affect middle-class tax, and blaming him for undermining democracy during the Capitol riots.
2. Trump defended Harris by saying that he made ‘’one of the greatest economies’’ but Harris responded by stating that hasn’t planned anything for the future.
3. The debate opened with a primary focus on the economy, where Harris questioned Trump for his economic mismanagement on the other hand Trump claimed that inflation under the leadership of Harris was the worst to date.
4. Harris made a strong stand on Abortion rights while backing them with Trump’s earlier remarks regarding the same. She also debated against the government’s involvement in women’s healthcare decisions.
5. Trump boosted the size of his rally whereas Harris hit back by mentioning that many of them leave from the events.
6. Trump showed support for the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe vs Wade case and termed it as a brave act. He failed to back his statement with facts and falsely blamed Democrats for supporting abortion even after birth.
7. Harris emphasized that Trump’s intention was not to focus on the needs of ordinary Americans instead she is the one who will prioritize people.
8. Trump refused to show support for Ukraine’s victory and he mentioned that he aims to end the conflict swiftly while Harris differed from Trump and said he supports Ukraine’s unconditional surrender. Harris stated, ’’If Trump was in power, Putin would have been sitting in Kyiv right now.’’. Both of them expressed different opinions on Russia Ukraine conflict.
9. Both the candidates exchanged their views on the Israel and Gaza conflict as well as the Russia-Ukraine crisis but neither provided any solid plans for resolving the issues.
10. According to PredictiIt’s 2024, an online prediction market projected a decline in Trump’s chance for victory to 47% from 52% whereas, Harris climbed up the ladder of increasing her chance to win to 55% from 53%, as reported by Reuters.
(With inputs from agencies)
