WASHINGTON, D.C. – Former President Donald Trump announced on social media there will not be another debate with Vice President Harris. Voters might only have to rely on the pair’s only debate earlier this week. Political scientists weigh in how the candidates win over voters without additional debates.
More than 67-million people tuned in to the debate between Trump and Harris. Political scientists said debates are a good opportunity for both candidates to energize their base and win over undecided voters. But they said the big takeaway from the Tuesday night debate was Harris getting under Trump’s skin.
“And it really rattled him,” said Dr. Todd Belt, George Washington University professor and director of political management. “He was really off message and wasn’t really able to explain his politics in detail because he just wanted to get back into the fight and respond to her attack. I think the debate was a bit lighter on substance than what I would’ve liked. We got some at the end: Donald Trump talked a little bit about tax cuts and tariffs even though he still doesn’t understand who pays for the tariffs and we heard a little bit from Kamala Harris what this opportunity economy is. She talked about homeowners help, she talked a little bit about small businesses and she talked about helping seniors but she didn’t explain how.”
Without another debate confirmed between the two candidates, Belt said there are ways both of them can win over voters.
“The road to the White House goes through Pennsylvania there’s no question about it,” said Belt. “Whoever gets Pennsylvania is probably going to be the winner so going out and getting those independent voters in Pennsylvania and activating the base making sure these candidates have the support they have. For Kamala Harris: making sure she speaks to voters of color and younger voters; and for Donald Trump: perhaps getting more people into his coalition than he’s had before he hasn’t expanded much. The only outreach he’s really done is to veterans so he needs to go out there and do more than that.”
