Although Democrats quickly declared Vice President Kamala Harris last night’s presidential debate winner, voters didn’t necessarily agree.
According to a Reuter’s focus group, which was supported by The New York Times, six in ten undecided voters suggested that former President Donald Trump won Tuesday night’s debate, citing the biased ABC News moderators who repeatedly fact-checked and argued with the 45th president.
Before the debate, the Harris campaign said the evening would allow voters to learn about the VP, her positions, and her policies. However, because of Harris’ “vague” answers, voters said they “trust” Trump more.
The outlet polled ten people, all of whom previously voted for Democrat and Republican candidates, before the debate. They said they were unsure of who they would vote for in November. However, following the 90-minute event, more than half of the respondents indicated they would now either vote for Trump or were at least leaning toward voting for him.
Five of those people said Harris left them more unsure about her positions and how she would improve the economy— a top concern for voters. Four of the respondents polled said Harris did nothing to convince them she would do anything differently from President Joe Biden, who has been blamed for the U.S.’ failing economic health.
According to a post-debate CNN survey, the percentage of voters who trust Trump with the economy increased from 16 to 20 percent.
Before the debate, Trump had a 16-point advantage over Harris on the economy, 53-37 percent. However, after the debate, Trump’s lead increased to 20 percent, 55-35 percent.
“I felt like the whole debate was Kamala Harris telling me why not to vote for Donald Trump instead of why she’s the right candidate,” one voter told the outlet.
“When Trump was in office — not going to lie — I was living way better,” another voter said. “I’ve never been so down as in the past four years. It’s been so hard for me.”
Others suggested that Trump was standing on firmer ground than Harris regarding his plans, saying that the former president’s “pitch was a little more convincing than hers.”
During the debate, Trump promised to cut taxes— accusing Harris of planning to raise taxes on already-struggling Americans.
“We’ve had a terrible economy because inflation has — which is really known as a country buster. It breaks up countries,” he said. “We have inflation like very few people have ever seen before. Probably the worst in our nation’s history, everybody knows I’m an open book. Everybody knows what I’m going to do. Cut taxes very substantially. And create a great economy like I did before. We had the greatest economy.”
On the contrary, Harris’ economic plans mirror Biden’s, leaving Americans living paycheck to paycheck and struggling to pay their bills. She said she would crack down on companies that own apartment buildings, who, according to her, have “colluded” to raise rents using pricing algorithms. To fund this plan, Harris said she would raise the corporate tax rate to 28 percent—seven percentage points higher than the current rate imposed under the Trump Administration.
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