Kamala and Trump hold first debate with 20% of voters undecided

US presidential candidates face off this Tuesday (10) for the first time in a debate hosted by ABC News in Pennsylvania, amid a technical tie in voting intention polls and almost 20% of undecided voters, according to the most recent national survey by the New York Times/Siena College.

For Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, the debate could be the main catalyst for a new momentum in the presidential campaign, as well as being the best chance until November to show who she is and what she wants – since polls show that the current US vice president is still unknown to a portion of voters.

In the case of the Republican, it is an opportunity for billionaire Donald Trump to put an end to the honeymoon after the change in the Democratic ticket and label Kamala as radical, weak and as guilty of the current government’s problems as Joe Biden.

The pressure is now on the far-right leader, who, faced with a former prosecutor with sharp oratorical and rhetorical skills, will be in a position opposite to that which he occupied in the debate against then-candidate Joe Biden.

At that time, Trump benefited from Biden’s fragility, who showed signs of confusion and difficulty expressing himself. Now, with Kamala Harris replacing Biden in the electoral race, it is Trump who faces the disadvantage in relation to his age, being in the role of the oldest candidate in the debate.

Trump also has to deal with the decline in his voting intentions since Biden was replaced by Kamala. Since then, Trump’s numerical advantage over his Democratic opponent has disappeared. When the current president was a candidate, Trump led the polls with 47.9% to 44.8%.

Now, according to the research aggregator Real Clear Polling, the new Democratic candidate leads with 48.4% to 47.3%.

Both candidates are expected to target the gold mine that the latest New York Times/Siena College poll revealed last Sunday (8). According to the survey, 83% of voters have already decided their vote. The remaining 17% may still change their minds.

To prepare, Harris spent the last few days in “debate quarantine.” According to the Washington Post, the Democrat spent four days in a mock debate, which featured a “fake Donald Trump” who attacked her with harsh accusations and offensive comments. Harris’s aides set up mock lecterns and conducted hours of questions that could have been asked of the candidate.

Trump, on the other hand, spent the weekend at his golf club in New Jersey, preferring to hold a few “policy sessions” with his aides and allies rather than actually practice for the debate. According to WP, the former president has participated in about half a dozen sessions in recent weeks, reviewing Harris’s political record in her 2020 presidential campaign and practicing how to respond to an expected barrage of attacks on his character.