By Our Reporter
As Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump prepare for Tuesday (today’s) night’s debate, which may likely be the only face-to-face meeting of the campaign season, both candidates are under immense pressure to put on a strong performance.
The face-off in Philadelphia may be the first and the last between Vice President Harries and Trump since President Joe Biden dropped out of the race in July following a disastrous performance with Trump.
In this debate, Harries and Trump will be meeting each other in person for the first and possibly last time before the election, given that no other debates have been scheduled before the November vote.
The campaign this night is seen as a new inflection point in the 2024 race to the White House, which has already featured many twists and turns.
National polling averages show Harries has only a slight lead. And in some cases, the race is closer, especially in some of the swing states that will decide the election.
Since entering the race, Harries has received overwhelming support from the Democratic Party, which ended up boosting the Party’s chances at the upcoming election, but many are beginning to worry if the support would hold strong through the election.
At this debate, the pressure will be more on Harries, being relatively less known than Trump to prove herself and tell the voters what she truly stands for. Consequently, Harries will be more in the spotlight.
With the recent national poll showing a tie for both candidates, with Harris’s edge shrinking a bit, so close to the election time, Democrats are jittery if the Vice President will pull through, especially when her Chicago outing received no extra boost, while the closely watched national New York Times Siena Poll on Monday saw Trump leading by 1 percentage point, meaning a tie in the race.
The question on most lips is if Harries can distinguish herself by defining her candidacy beyond the shadow of just being Biden’s vice president. Financial Times quotes a political analyst, Amy Walter as saying: “For Harris, success means reassuring swing voters that she isn’t as ‘extreme’ or ‘radically liberal’ as Trump and his allies have suggested, adding that there is little chance that voters’ opinions of Trump will change. She said that the big question will be whether it impacts the way voters perceive Harries.
Americans and the world are however eager to see how this historic election pans out.