Washington (Agencies)
Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris is the favorite to win the White House over Republican Donald Trump, a viewer poll showed after the televised presidential debate in Philadelphia yesterday.
Among those surveyed, 45 percent gave Harris a favorable rating, compared to 39 percent for Trump. The poll, which surveyed registered voters who watched the debate, was conducted by a polling firm for several U.S. media outlets, including CNN. The poll showed that 44 percent of viewers had an unfavorable rating for Harris after the televised debate, while 51 percent of those surveyed gave Trump an unfavorable rating.
In one area, Trump had a clear lead, with about 55% of respondents believing Trump was more competent on the economy than Harris, who got 35% on that point.
But the numbers may not mean much, as 82% of poll respondents said the televised debate had no impact on their vote in November.
Republican lawmakers considered former President Donald Trump’s performance in the debate to be unfocused and below expectations.
According to Politico, Republicans are aware that Trump “did not win” his debate with Harris, as they saw that he missed opportunities to undermine Harris on several key issues, including immigration and border security.
Former US President Donald Trump defended his performance, saying: “This is my best debate.”
While tens of millions of Americans were watching the presidential debate, another confrontation erupted on social media, with both sides using original and edited video clips of key moments from the debate.
Harris, advisers said, was aiming to provoke Trump into saying something that could be used to make viral videos on social media, and the strategy appears to have paid off.
For his part, US President Joe Biden said that his Vice President Kamala Harris had proven that she was the best choice, adding that Trump’s performance “wasn’t even close,” noting that “Harris has proven that she is the best choice to lead our nation forward, we will not go back.”
In turn, former US President Barack Obama said: Kamala showed that she will be a president for all Americans, after her performance during the debate with Trump, adding: “We saw with our own eyes who has the vision and the strength to move this country forward, Kamala Harris will be a president for all Americans.”
Meanwhile, Kamala Harris challenged her rival Donald Trump to a second televised debate after the one between them last night.
The Democratic candidate’s campaign said in a statement criticizing the former president’s performance: The Vice President “is ready for a second debate. Is Donald Trump ready?” Trump said that he is not inclined to hold another debate, stressing that he won the debate by a large margin.
The closing statements after the presidential debate showed that Trump spoke for 42 minutes and 52 seconds, while Harris spoke for 37 minutes and 36 seconds.
Although the debate rules give candidates an equal opportunity to respond to questions, either candidate can choose not to use the maximum time allotted.
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