WASHINGTON: Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump and Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris will meet in their first and perhaps only debate on Tuesday, a clash that could prove pivotal in their pitched battle for the White House.

The ABC News-hosted debate at 9pm ET takes place just eight weeks before the Nov 5 election, with both candidates locked in a tight race that could still easily swing in either direction. Early voting will start in some states just days after the debate.

The encounter is particularly important for Harris, with opinion polls showing that more than a quarter of likely voters feel they do not yet know enough about her, in contrast to the well-known Trump.

The nationally televised debate also offers Harris, a former prosecutor, a chance to make her case against Trump, whose felony convictions, outspoken backing for supporters convicted of the Jan 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol and frequent falsehoods all offer plenty of fertile ground.

It will be the first time the two candidates have met and follows weeks of personal attacks on Harris by Trump and his allies that have included racist and sexist insults. A similar outburst on stage could turn off undecided voters, according to John Geer, a professor at Vanderbilt University and an expert on presidential politics.

Trump’s advisers and fellow Republicans have urged him to focus on Tuesday on illegal immigration and high prices, issues that play well with voters, and portraying Harris as too liberal for the country. “There’s no floor for him in terms of how low he will go, and we should be prepared for that,” Harris said in a radio interview.

“There is more for Kamala Harris to gain and more for her to lose,” said Mitchell McKinney, a former adviser to the US Commission on Presidential Debates, since she remains somewhat of an unknown for many voters. Viewers will be looking for where she stands on various issues. But just as important, they will be looking to see how she handles herself against Trump.

Trump, by contrast, is already well defined. “You’re either for him or against him” at this point, McKinney said. The 90-minute debate will take place at the National Constitution Centre in Philadelphia. As agreed by the campaigns, there will be no live audience and microphones will be muted when it is not a candidate’s turn to speak.

Prep work

Harris has been preparing in Pittsburgh since Thursday, holding mock sessions on a stage with lights to recreate the debate environment. Philippe Reines, a former Hillary Clinton aide, is playing Trump.

Rather than rehearsing, Trump has relied on informal chats with advisers, campaign appearances and media interviews to get set for Tuesday, with former Democratic congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard — who had a memorably hostile exchange with Harris in a Democratic presidential debate in 2019 — offering advice. On a call with reporters, Gabbard said Trump would treat Harris just as any other opponent.

“President Trump respects women and doesn’t feel the need to be patronising or to speak to women in any other way than he would speak to a man,” she said. “He is speaking to Kamala Harris’s record, and comparing and contrasting that with his record of success.”

Published in Dawn, September 11th, 2024