After polls, Trump confirms he will no longer participate in debates

A CNN survey of registered voters found that 63% of viewers said Kamala won the debate. Another post-debate poll said the Democrat’s voting intentions also grew.

On social media, the Republican said he won the ABC News debate, contradicting poll results. Kamala’s campaign suggested a second meeting for October.

Republican White House candidate Donald Trump said Thursday (12) that he will not participate in another debate against Democrat Kamala Harris. Trump’s announcement came moments after CNN published a survey in which 63% of respondents said they believed the Democrat won the match, compared to 37%.

Shortly after the end of the broadcast, the businessman appeared by surprise in the “spin room”, as the area reserved for interviews with journalists is called, and said that the opposition campaign, in despair, had proposed a new debate.

“She wants another debate because she knows she lost this one, but I don’t know if we’re going to have another one,” she said. “It was the best debate I’ve ever done. I had fun. I hope you enjoyed it too,” she added.

Despite considering herself the winner of the debate, a CNN poll of registered voters agreed that Kamala outperformed Trump. Respondents said, 63% to 37%, that Kamala performed better on the ABC stage.

Before the debate, the same voters were evenly split on which candidate would perform stronger, with 50% saying Harris would and 50% saying Trump would.

The first national poll after the debate also sounded the alarm for Republicans. According to the Reuters/Ipsos poll completed on Thursday, Kamala has 47% of voting intentions to Trump’s 42% in the race for the White House.

In the previous survey, published on August 29, the current vice president had 45% against the former president’s 41%.

Perhaps for this reason, Trump and his campaign confirmed this Thursday, through the social network Truth Social (owned by the Republican), that he will no longer participate in the debates.

“There will be no third debate,” the far-right leader posted. “When a boxer loses a fight, the first thing he says is that he wants a rematch. The polls clearly indicate that I won the debate,” the tycoon added.

Despite calling his performance in the debate his “best ever,” the former president complained about the treatment he received from the mediators, compared to that offered to Kamala.

“It was manipulated, as I assumed it would be. (…) When you looked at the fact that they were fixing everything and not fixing her [Kamala]. It was three against one. Okay, I’ve had worse odds before, but never this obvious,” he said, referring to moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis.

ABC News hosts fact-checked Trump’s statements and statements from the debate, and pressed for direct answers to their questions.

In one of the moments when the moderators were most incisive, Trump claimed that some states allow abortion in the ninth month of pregnancy and Davis intervened saying: “There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it is born.”

Later in the debate, Trump falsely claimed that migrants in Ohio were killing pets for food, repeating a debunked claim that had been amplified this week by right-wing media figures and echoed by Republican leaders.

“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs,” Trump said. “The people who have come in are eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of the people who live there. And that’s what’s happening in our country and it’s a disgrace.”

Muir quickly corrected Trump on the claim. “I just want to clarify here. You mentioned Springfield, Ohio. ABC News reached out to the mayor of that city. He told us there have been no credible reports of specific allegations of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community.”