The debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday, Sept. 10 was one of the most anticipated events of the 2024 presidential election. While no single factor determines which candidate won the debate, many of those who tuned in to watch had their thoughts about who performed better.
Multiple students interviewed suggested that one of Harris’ strong points is on abortion and that she performed especially well in that section of the debate. “With abortion, Kamala was really good at getting her points across and answering the question directly.” Olivia Argosino-Comer ‘26 said. “[She told] us tangible things about what she is going to do if she’s elected president,”
A CNN flash poll reported that 96% of Harris’ supporters who watched the debate believed she performed better than her opponent. At the same time, only 69% of Trump’s supporters said he had the better performance.
“Harris was just really effective in dealing with Trump and figuring out what gets under his skin. [She made] his side of the debate much less effective and much less concise or even interesting … But there will always be people who really, genuinely think that [Trump is] the right choice,” said Vaani Chandra ’25.
According to a CNN debate fact-checking article, “Former President Donald Trump delivered more than 30 false claims during Tuesday’s presidential debate against Vice President Kamala Harris.” These false claims include claiming that Tim Walz (Harris’ vice presidential pick) believes in abortion after birth, which is medically impossible.
But perhaps the most impactful of Trump’s lies has been the false claim that Haitian-American immigrants in the city of Springfield, Ohio, have been eating their neighbors’ pets. This claim, which lacks evidence, has resulted in bomb threats against hospitals, schools and the Springfield town hall. “We reached out to the city manager of Springfield,” ABC reporter and debate moderator David Muir said during the debate. “He told us there had been no credible reports of pets being harmed, injured, or eaten by members of the immigrant community.”
While many debate-watchers agree that Harris outdid Trump in the debate, the vice president’s performance also had shortcomings. According to an NBC article, “[Harris] never really addressed [the] question about whether voters are better off economically today than they were four years ago — and Trump never made her own that.”
“[Trump] pointed out [that Harris has] essentially been vice president for four years and these policies she’s suggesting haven’t happened,” Argosino-Comer said. “He does beg a good question: how could we trust these things to get done if we haven’t even seen progress on them yet?”
Following the presidential debate, the election still appears to be close. Trump is trailing behind Harris by a few points. The national polling average from the New York Times gives Harris a small two-point lead in the election, 49% to 47%.“