Ahmed Shaaban (Washington, Cairo)
Voters in the United States of America are awaiting the first presidential debate between the candidates, Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris, on September 10, hosted by the American ABC News network.
Polls by FiveThirtyEight show Harris with a narrow lead over Trump in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, states Biden won in 2020.
Trump trails Harris in Wisconsin and Michigan by about three points, while Harris leads by less than two points in Pennsylvania, according to poll averages.
According to the New York Times, Harris held a mock presidential debate on August 15 at Howard University in Washington, where she has set aside time from her campaign schedule to hone her approach to Trump ahead of their upcoming debate, and is preparing for it with a group of advisers who have been working with her since before she became vice president.
The preparations are being led by Rohini Kozoglu, Harris’s Senate chief of staff and senior adviser during her 2020 primary campaign, and Karen Dunn, the attorney who helped prepare Harris for her vice presidential debate, and Sean Clegg, a former campaign strategist, has also been called in to help.
The researcher in international relations and political science, Dr. Ahmed Maher Abu Jabal, considered that the upcoming debate will have an important role in determining the winner of the presidential elections, pointing out that Harris used a different method in her election campaign, which is attacking her Republican competitor Trump, instead of using a defensive method, and this is what she seeks during the debate, while former presidents Obama and Clinton used the method of mocking Trump during the past period in support of Harris.
Abu Jabal told Al-Ittihad that Harris has a greater chance of getting more votes, especially if she defeats Trump in the upcoming debate, and that she relies on young people and women in her election campaign, who are the majority. This was evident through the donations the campaign collected, which amounted to $540 million in less than a month. Harris represents a large segment of American society, in addition to her constant advocacy for women, abortion, and immigrants, and her promises to support university students financially, all of which help her win many votes.
For his part, Dr. Gamal Abdel Gawad, Professor of Political Science at the American University in Cairo, considered the presidential debate an important step on the road to the elections, but the decision will await Election Day on November 5th, and the opportunity is good for both parties to announce their strengths and show the weakness of the other party, describing the debate as “a battle in an extended war between them.”
“Harris is going through an important ascent that began with Biden’s withdrawal and reached its peak at the previous Democratic Party conference, which was largely successful,” Abdel-Jawad told Al-Ittihad. “If Harris can perform strongly in the upcoming debate and maintain the momentum she has, it will have a significant impact on widening the gap between her and Trump. If Trump wins the debate and performs well, he will regain the momentum he lost in the past period.”
He noted that Trump is distinguished by having previously participated in many presidential debates, while Harris has only participated in one debate in her political life as a vice presidential candidate 4 years ago, and did not reach the stage of participating in debates within the Democratic Party when she was a candidate.
“If Trump can control his performance, he has a good chance,” the political science professor said. “If Harris can formulate political positions through which she can achieve good gains over the past period, maintain them, and show them, she has a good chance of winning the debate in her favor.”
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