Are you ready for the showdown of the century? A televised debate that could determine the outcome of the White House race is looming. The tension is mounting as Kamala Harris and Donald Trump gear up for their first, and possibly only, face-off before November 5th. Recent polls show them neck and neck, with election forecasters evenly split between the two candidates. With just over 48 hours to go before the debate on Abc news, the Democrat and the Republican are intensifying their preparations, bracing themselves to face tough questions from journalists, judgment from the public, and attacks from each other.
Sequestered in her hotel in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she will stay until the moment of the showdown, the vice president has surrounded herself with only her most trusted advisors and top preparers: Philippe Reines, former advisor to Hillary Clinton when she was Secretary of State, playing the role of Trump; veteran duelists Karen Dunn and Rohini Kosoglu, former policy advisor and Senate chief of staff. The stakes are high, especially for Harris, as the latest New York Times/Siena College poll reveals that 28% of undecided voters feel they “do not know her well enough and need to learn more” about her. Harris’s campaign has criticized Abc news for choosing the format of muted microphones, the same format used by CNN in the infamous duel between Trump and Joe Biden, arguing that it will disadvantage the candidate and protect the Republican from direct confrontation.
Yet it is precisely in a face-to-face exchange that the vice president aims to corner the tycoon, as advised by Hillary Clinton. “She must not fall into the tycoon’s trap. He easily gets nervous, takes the bait. And he cannot respond to substantive and targeted attacks,” explained the former presidential candidate in an interview with the New York Times, recalling a moment from the 2016 TV duel when she called Trump “Putin’s puppet.” “He started to stutter, he got nervous,” Clinton recalled. The tycoon is also preparing for the debate, apparently more subtly than in the past but, according to those close to him, never as intensely as now, as he continues to campaign in swing states. “Harris is worse than Biden,” he attacked during a rally over the weekend in Wisconsin, where Trump and his rival are neck and neck, as in other crucial swing states like Pennsylvania and Michigan. The two candidates are also tied nationally, with 48% for The Donald and 47% for Kamala, according to the Nyt/Siena poll. Overall, the most recent surveys, though varying, have brought Democrats back down to earth after the high of the Chicago convention. For the vice president, Tuesday’s debate will be crucial in presenting herself especially to Hispanic male voters, whom she has not yet been able to convince and who are crucial for winning the White House and embodying the change she claims to represent. Over 60% of voters believe that the next commander-in-chief must be a departure from Biden, but only 25% believe Harris fits that bill, compared to 53% for Trump.
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