The first and possibly only debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump drew a significantly higher audience than Trump’s debate against President Joe Biden in June.
It's estimated that nearly 60 million Americans watched Tuesday night’s debate on ABC, and the two cities with the biggest audience shares were from the same key swing state: Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Rusty Hicks, chair of the California Democratic Party, and Elizabeth Pipko, spokesperson for the Republican National Committee, both joined KNX News’ daily political show Countdown 2024 to discuss the debate.
Listen to the full episode here:
Hicks said that while Harris came off as “presidential,” Trump’s performance painted him as “unfit and in many ways unhinged.”
“[Harris] made her case as to a brighter vision that she offers for our country, a new way forward and a clear contrast to Donald Trump, who simply wants to take us back,” he said.
Pipko, however, defended Trump’s performance, saying she was “really impressed” with the polling that came back after the debate.
“For example, we're looking at a CNN poll where the majority of people actually believe that on the economy, they now think Donald Trump would handle things much better than Kamala Harris,” she said.
Undecided voters have been looking for more specifics on Harris’ policies and how she’ll differ from Joe Biden. According to Pipko, Harris missed her opportunity to deliver those plans.
“She gave us no new policy proposals,” she said. “No one knows her any better than they did before.”
Hicks said that Harris gave specifics on her vision for issues like supporting middle class families and small businesses, but conceded that on many other key topics, Harris didn’t “get anything close to details.”
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As of now, there are no more debates scheduled. Harris' campaign agreed to debate once more on Fox News, but Trump doesn’t seem apt to get on board, telling Fox & Friends point-blank, “I don’t know that I want to do another debate.”
“I’d be less inclined to, because we had a great night, we won the debate,” he added.
Harris, meanwhile, had a great night of her own, securing the endorsement of arguably the biggest music star in the world shortly after the debate ended.
Calling Harris a "steady-handed, gifted leader," Taylor Swift made her endorsement in an Instagram post accompanied by a picture of the pop star with her cat. She signed the post "Childless Cat Lady."
Listen to the full episode above to hear more analysis from California Senator Alex Padilla, and catch new episodes of Countdown 2024 live at 2:30 p.m. every weekday through Election Day.
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