Editorial|The US presidential candidates will face off in a televised debate next night. The stakes are high, especially for Kamala Harris, who has progressed so far.
Television’s election debates have rarely had a very big impact on the opinions of the US voters. Usually, the debates have seen two political professionals known to the public for a long time, who only repeat their answers written by assistants in the studio, tested with numerous focus groups and honed with practice opponents. To justify the meaning of the debate ritual, experts have had to regularly return to the 1960 election debate, where some estimate that John F. Kennedy won over Richard Nixon because his beard looked bad on TV.
Now and in the future, the experts have a new justification: the televised debate organized on June 27 revealed to the viewers the confusion of President Joe Biden’s thinking and speeches. Three weeks after that Atlanta encounter, Biden dropped the candidacy and made way for Vice President Kamala Harris. The dramatic background raises expectations to a peak when Democratic candidate Harris and Republican Donald Trump meet next night in Philadelphia in a debate organized by ABC. It may remain the only meeting of the candidates in a television studio.
The candidates go to the debate to implement their own plan. Trump should look sane and normal and not too scary. That’s not a high bar for a presidential candidate, but it is for Trump. Trump’s position is made easier by the fact that he can hardly say anything stranger than what he has already said numerous times. Even a bad performance would not affect the positions of loyal supporters, but it could alienate a small group of mobile voters.
Former Republican Vice President Dick Cheney also tried to influence this group, who announced last week that he would vote for Harris. “Never in our nation’s 248-year history has there been an individual who poses a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump,” Cheney wrote. Before, that would have been a historical statement, now it’s a piece of news.
Barris has more to win than Trump in the debate, but also more to lose, as many voters still don’t have a very clear picture of the current vice president. The debate is Harris’ chance to tell the American people what kind of president they would like him to be. If Harris can’t tell where he stands, the other side can.
One would think that Harris would do well in an argument against Trump, the former prosecutor says that he learned to work with characters like Trump in the courtroom. However, an election debate is not a courtroom. In a debate, it’s not the facts that the presenters check or leave unchecked, but what kind of feeling the candidate conveys.
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Harris has more to gain and lose.
The argument was published under the New York Times in an opinion poll Trump was narrowly ahead of Harris. In practice, the candidates are on par. In the electorally decisive states, the difference between the candidates is clearly within the margin of error. Probably, these elections will also be decided by very small movements, maybe a few thousand voters.
Tthe latest poll results were certainly a disappointment for the Democrats, as they show that the downhill slide that Harris started in the summer has come to an end. Although the Harris camp has tried to present its candidate as an underdog, the Democrats seem to be hoping that the trend of growing support will continue until the election.
That didn’t happen and it wasn’t supposed to happen. Harris’s sudden rise in popularity has been due not so much to the vice president himself as to the fact that he provided salvation from a situation where two historically unpopular old men were running for the White House.
There have been attempts to sell Harris as a candidate of the future suitable for all tastes, but now more is being demanded of him – both in terms of policy content and personal qualities.
The position of president is neither inherited nor given. You have to earn it. It’s time for Harris to roll up his sleeves and get to work.
The editorials are HS’s positions on a current topic. The articles are prepared by HS’s editorial department, and they reflect the magazine principle line.
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