America’s two most prominent 2024 presidential candidates, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, went head-to-head on September 10, where they debated various topics pressing the nation.
Donald Trump is a politician, businessman and former president of The United States. He is the republican candidate with Ohio Senator JD Vance as his running mate. Kamala Harris is a politician, attorney and current vice president of The United States. She is the democratic candidate for the 2024 presidential election with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate.
The first few notable topics asked about by moderators David Muir of ABC News’ “World News Tonight” and Linsey Davis of “ABC News Live Prime” (also “World News Tonight”) were those regarding the economic standing of the country, abortion and immigration. In response, Trump spoke about imposing tariffs on foreign countries, abortion being brought back into the hands of the states and immigration being the reason our country is “being lost.” Harris, on the other hand, voiced her plans for expanding the child tax credit for families and a tax deduction for small businesses as well as how she supported a border security bill that Trump denounced in January 2024.
“They both got the message [about] what they wanted to say—however, [Harris] had a better execution,” Taymoi Epps (12) said. “This debate has set in stone who will become the next leader of our country.”
Around the debate’s midpoint, the topics shifted to the war in Ukraine and Afghanistan. When asked about these topics, Trump said that he wants to stop the war in Ukraine by getting Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy together. He stated that the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan was “the most embarrassing moment in the history of our country.” Harris noted that due to the Biden administration’s support of Ukraine, it is still standing as a free and independent country. Harris agreed with Biden’s choice to withdraw the U.S. troops from Afghanistan because it has wound up saving hundreds of millions of dollars daily in taxpayer money.
“For me, no [it will not change how I vote],” Cole Young (12) said. “The debate offered the general public a chance to see two candidates: one that they are very familiar with and another they might not know much about. However, I think many people still will not vote.”
The next points were focused on the Affordable Care Act, also referred to as Obamacare, and climate change. In response to these points, Trump referred to Obamacare as “lousy” and expensive healthcare. He has “concepts of a plan” for the future, he said, as well as mentioning again his plan to put higher tariffs on other countries. Harris responded by saying that her administration will need to expand and maintain the Affordable Health Act and how she has helped the Biden administration cap the cost of insulin and prescription medication.
Harris led her closing statement with an emphasis on the importance of “not going back.” She plans to create an economy built for opportunity. Harris centered the working class in her remarks, explaining how she plans to support them through “investing in small businesses, in new families and in what we can do around protecting seniors.” Conversely, Trump started his closing statement by asking why Harris had not already done what she is now promising. He stated that The United States is currently a failing nation. Trump closed his statement by calling Harris the worst vice president in the history of our country.
“In most debates it seems that it is not as important to ‘win’ the debate as it is to not make any major mistakes that might cause your supporters to lose faith in you – such as what happened to Joe Biden in his debate with Trump earlier this year,” Columbia Heights High School Social Studies teacher Mr. Dan Tschida said, referring to the June face-off that resulted in democrats pushing for Biden to drop out of the race due to concern over the president’s stumbles and weary physical appearance.
No matter how memorable this debate may have seemed, Michigan State University states that typically those who watch presidential debates are likely to be the most politically engaged and therefore already have a rigid viewpoint on the candidates. This means that presidential debates are unlikely to have much of an impact on the views of candidates or the outcome of the election, although since Harris has recently been endorsed as the Democratic nominee, September’s showdown could potentially prove to be of more significance than expected.
Because this election year has been full of surprises, who knows if this debate (or the less talked about Vice Presidential debate between the two candidates’ running mates last week) will have any long-standing effects on the upcoming election. No matter what happens, it’s always important to educate yourself and vote. Make sure to register to vote if you will be 18 years old by November 5, 2024.
