The Republican and Democratic presidential candidates will face off in a debate Tuesday evening, possibly the only one between the two, raising the stakes in what remains an incredibly tight race.
Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump agreed to the terms of the Tuesday debate, hosted at the the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia and moderated by ABC News anchors David Muir and Linsey Davis.
The debate rules will be similar to Trump’s June debate with President Joe Biden, a debate that proved fatal to the incumbent’s reelection hopes.
There will be no pre-written notes, no studio audience and no opening statements.
Microphones will be muted when the candidate is not permitted to speak, something that was instituted after previous Trump-Biden debates devolved into incoherency.
Harris’ campaign reportedly complained about the muted microphones, with several media outlets reporting that Harris’ camp sent a letter to ABC news saying the rule “fundamentally disadvantaged” Harris.
“I let him talk,” Trump said during his recent Fox News Town Hall. “I’m going to let her talk.
“You can go in with all the strategy you want but you have to sort of feel it out as the debate is taking place,” he added.
Trump previously threatened to back out of the debate, complaining of ABC’s bias.
“I watched ABC FAKE NEWS this morning, both lightweight reporter Jonathan Carl’s(K?) ridiculous and biased interview of Tom Cotton (who was fantastic!), and their so-called Panel of Trump Haters, and I ask, why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network?” Trump wrote on TruthSocial near the end of August. “Will panelist Donna Brazil give the questions to the Marxist Candidate like she did for Crooked Hillary Clinton? Will Kamala’s best friend, who heads up ABC, do likewise. Where is Liddle’ George Slopadopolus hanging out now? Will he be involved. They’ve got a lot of questions to answer!!! Why did Harris turn down Fox, NBC, CBS, and even CNN? Stay tuned!!”!
Energy issues are expected to come up at the debate since the swing state of Pennsylvania, where the debate is located, has a strong oil and gas economy. Harris’ past support for banning fracking and then her reversal on that stance have thrown the issue into the forefront this election cycle.
Illegal immigration remains a top concern in the debate. Trump has made immigration a top issue for him, and Harris has recently toughened up on the border. She has pointed to her support for a Senate immigration deal that includes border wall funding, though she previously mocked the border wall.
She may face questions about that or other changes in her tone or stance in recent years.
The economy will likely come up as well as inflation remains a top concern for voters in a string of polls. Prices have risen more than 20% since President Joe Biden took office, squeezing Americans’ budgets.
The Biden administration has repeatedly pointed to job growth as a sign of the economy’s health, but a recent revision to federal data shows that previous job growth data significantly overestimated new jobs and as a result, the health of the U.S. economy.
Trump, meanwhile, could face questions about his ongoing legal woes. He has been able to so far delay his trials beyond the election, most notably his sentencing for his conviction for his Stormy Daniels hush money payments, until Nov. 26, after the election.
The latest polling shows Trump and Harris are in a close race nationally.
The latest Harvard-Harris poll released Monday shows that Trump and Harris are in a dead heat, tied 50-50 nationally. The same poll found that 61% of Americans say the nation is on the wrong track, and 63% say the U.S. economy is on the wrong track.
Notably, nearly half of Americans, 48%, say they are getting financially worse off while 26% say they are better off and 26% say they are about the same. Those economic pains are front and center in the minds of voters and in the rhetoric of both Harris and Trump on the campaign trail.
Harris has repeatedly lamented high prices in her campaign, though critics point out those prices mostly rose during her time as vice president.
A look at the key swing states shows a close race as well.
According to Real Clear Politics’ polling average, Harris and Trump are within two points of each other, within the margin of error for most polls, in every swing state.
