US Vice President Kamala Harris and Former President Donald Trump to Face Off in High-Stakes Debate
In a highly anticipated showdown, United States Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump will meet in person for the first time on Tuesday, with millions of Americans tuning in to witness the debate. The high-stakes ABC debate is a critical test for both candidates, coming just weeks before the 2024 election.
Harris, 59, has turbocharged and unified the Democratic party, and will now face an opponent who has called her "crazy" and subjected her to racist and sexist taunts. Despite being the underdog in the polls, Harris remains confident, having overhauled Trump’s lead and insisting she remains the underdog in a tight race.
Trump, 78, is expected to opt for an aggressive approach, having refused to attend President Joe Biden’s inauguration after falsely claiming he was cheated in the 2020 election. The debate is taking place in Pennsylvania, a battleground state that will decide the election.
The lack of prior face time between the two candidates is a result of Trump’s refusal to attend Biden’s inauguration. The debate could be the last, as Harris and Trump have not agreed to any more debates. The candidates’ microphones will be muted while the other is speaking, a result of a bitter row that ended with Harris’s camp reluctantly agreeing to the arrangement.
The debate has the potential to be a decisive moment in the final sprint to November 5, with both candidates seeking to reach out to a core of undecided voters in a deeply polarized America. Harris will rely on her coolly cutting style and history as a prosecutor, while Trump will need to decide how much his voters want.
The debate will also be a test of ABC’s moderators, who will need to fact-check the stream of falsehoods that Trump is likely to spew. As Andrew Koneschusky, a former press secretary for US Senate leader Chuck Schumer, said, "This debate may go down in the history books. Break out the popcorn."
The stakes are high, and the debate is expected to be a nail-bitingly close encounter. With the election just weeks away, Americans will be watching closely to see how it plays out on stage.
