Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican former President Donald Trump are set to face off in a debate Tuesday night in what could be a pivotal moment in the campaign leading up to the November 5 U.S. presidential election.
The candidates have never met each other or even talked on the phone, but on Tuesday they will be standing a short distance from each other behind lecterns at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. They are set to trade barbs with each other for 90 minutes while answering questions posed by two ABC News anchors, David Muir and Linsey Davis.
Tens of millions of Americans are likely to watch what could be the only debate of the campaign. The event takes place eight weeks before the official Election Day but only days ahead of when early voting starts in some of the country’s 50 states.
The U.S. economy, abortion rights, immigration at the U.S. border with Mexico, crime rates in the United States and personal character are among the issues that the ABC anchors are likely to raise.
On the debate stage, the rules for Harris and Trump will be the same as at the debate Trump had with President Joe Biden in June, where Biden stumbled badly, leading him a month later to end his reelection bid.
Trump’s and Harris’ microphones will be muted when the other is speaking and they will not be allowed to pose questions to each other. Each will have two minutes to answer a moderator’s question and the other two minutes to respond, with another minute set aside for the moderators to ask follow-up questions or for clarifications of the candidates’ viewpoints.
It is the first presidential debate for Harris. For Trump, it is his seventh over three presidential election cycles since 2016
National polling shows the contest to be close, making it all the more crucial for both candidates to make their best case in the debate for the small number of voters who haven’t already made up their mind. At stake, returning Trump to the White House after he lost reelection in 2020 to President Joe Biden or elevating Harris, Biden’s second-in-command.
Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican former President Donald Trump are set to face off in a debate Tuesday night in what could be a pivotal moment in the campaign leading up to the November 5 U.S. presidential election.
The candidates have never met each other or even talked on the phone, but on Tuesday they will be standing a short distance from each other behind lecterns at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. They are set to trade barbs with each other for 90 minutes while answering questions posed by two ABC News anchors, David Muir and Linsey Davis.
Tens of millions of Americans are likely to watch what could be the only debate of the campaign. The event takes place eight weeks before the official Election Day but only days ahead of when early voting starts in some of the country’s 50 states.
The U.S. economy, abortion rights, immigration at the U.S. border with Mexico, crime rates in the United States and personal character are among the issues that the ABC anchors are likely to raise.
On the debate stage, the rules for Harris and Trump will be the same as at the debate Trump had with President Joe Biden in June, where Biden stumbled badly, leading him a month later to end his reelection bid.
Trump’s and Harris’ microphones will be muted when the other is speaking and they will not be allowed to pose questions to each other. Each will have two minutes to answer a moderator’s question and the other two minutes to respond, with another minute set aside for the moderators to ask follow-up questions or for clarifications of the candidates’ viewpoints.
It is the first presidential debate for Harris. For Trump, it is his seventh over three presidential election cycles since 2016
National polling shows the contest to be close, making it all the more crucial for both candidates to make their best case in the debate for the small number of voters who haven’t already made up their mind. At stake, returning Trump to the White House after he lost reelection in 2020 to President Joe Biden or elevating Harris, Biden’s second-in-command.
Source: Voanews