I think most people would agree that the debate on Tuesday night was not an ideal situation for Donald Trump.
Having said that, Trump did appear to hit home with some key voter blocks.
Talking Points…
- Taking the bait
- Trump hits home
- Analysis
Heading into the debate, everyone knew what the strategy of Kamala Harris was going to be. She wanted to use her time not to discuss policy but instead to attack Trump and goad him into a confrontation. Whenever Harris was asked a question, she merely deflected it back to an attack on Trump, with even CNN's Jake Tapper expressing frustration over the fact that Harris was not answering questions…
🚨 CNN just BLASTED Kamala Harris for dodging MULTIPLE questions on the economy, border, and other issues
That’s EXTREMELY telling.
If the “moderators” weren’t simply Kamala propagandists, maybe they would’ve pressed her.
Does anyone ACTUALLY believe Kamala won the debate at… pic.twitter.com/gJ166CAgGY
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) September 11, 2024
In terms of getting Trump off his mark, Harris' plan worked, as Trump started to go off on rants, pitch conspiracy theories, and insist that he had won the 2020 election. Moderators even had Trump debunking his own statements. I thought the debate was a complete and utter disaster for Trump, but it apparently was not all bad. The little policy that was discussed during the debate actually hit home with some key voter blocks.
Right now, this is all about moving the needle for Trump, something he has not done much of during this election cycle. If you look at Trump's polling numbers, they have remained astonishingly consistent throughout this entire cycle, with leads being dictated by how his opponent was doing, nothing that Trump did to move the needle.
That may soon change, however, as a focus group for Reuters that watched the debate was swung by Trump's arguments at a 2:1 ratio. Mind you, this group only consisted of 10 people, but Reuters reported:
"Reuters interviewed 10 people who were still unsure how they were going to vote in the Nov. 5 election before they watched the debate.
"Six said afterward they would now either vote for Trump or were leaning toward backing him. Three said they would now back Harris and one was still unsure how he would vote."
One man hit the nail on the head in saying that Harris was more about saying why you should not vote for Trump rather than why you should vote for her, and that is an argument that failed Hillary Clinton in 2016. In a Fox News focus group, Trump also made up some ground on independent voters. Lee Carter, pollster and president of Maslansky + Partners, was stunned that independent voters were moving over to Trump, explaining:
"I was really, really surprised because the intensity of the independent support was there for Donald Trump and I didn't expect it.
"Independents are tracking very much with Republicans. They're looking for a couple of things. They're looking for answers on immigration, they're looking for answers on the economy. They want to hear that things will get better for them and they also want change from what is happening right now. One of the most important things they were looking for last night from Kamala Harris is how are you going to make it different?"
This is how I see it: The voters who are actually paying attention realize that Harris has been in office for four years, so selling her as a "change" candidate is a tough sell. They also watched her during the debate and realized that she never really answered any questions, just pointing the finger at the bad orange man and telling people not to vote for him. Those voters are starting to move toward Trump, reluctantly, but they are moving.
The voters who are headline readers or who actually trust the media are the problem. They don't do research and simply trust whatever the media decides to force down their throat on any given day. To read the majority of reviews of the debate, this was Harris' coming out party. Yet, watch the man-on-the-street interviews of Harris supporters, and it is comical. For the most part, they cannot name anything she has done or a single policy she supports. One woman actually said that Harris' greatest accomplishment was being the first woman vice president. This translates to Harris not having done anything of note since she put her hand on the Bible and was sworn into office.
