On September 10, former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris participated in their first presidential debate, hosted by ABC News in advance of the 2024 election.
Over 90 minutes, the candidates responded to questions from the moderators, sharing their visions for the future of the country and the policies they would pursue if elected.
The first major event of the 2024 presidential election cycle was the debate between Biden and Trump. Many, including members of his own party, criticized Biden for his performance, raising concerns about his age.
“It felt more like ad hominem attacks on each other. I think Trump had a pretty good performance, and Biden definitely flopped a lot. I think that really killed his chances of being president,” explains Zubair Hasan (I) regarding the first debate.
After weeks of pressure from Democratic donors and elected officials, Biden dropped his reelection bid on July 21 and endorsed Vice President Harris. The Democratic Party quickly unified around the new candidate, and she raised over 100 million dollars for her campaign in less than two days.
Once Harris formally secured the Democratic nomination, the search for a Vice Presidential candidate began. Harris eventually selected Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota as her pick, and they were officially nominated in a virtual roll call on August 6, attending the Democratic National Convention later that month.
Trump had chosen JD Vance, a Marine Corps veteran and senator from Ohio, to be his running mate.
In their first debate, Trump and Harris discussed issues such as immigration, abortion and tax policies. The candidates had two minutes to answer each question, followed by two-minute rebuttals and one-minute follow-ups.
“I think that Harris had a lot of detailed policies that she talked about in the debate, for example, her plan to improve the economy,” shares BLS AP U.S. History teacher Ms. Ashley Balbian, “and I think that Trump performed as well as he did in the first debate with President Biden. He repeated a lot of the policies that he said at his rallies.”
During the debate, ABC News moderators fact-checked fallacious claims — a first for a U.S. presidential debate.
Both candidates were found to have presented false information, including claims about inflation and immigration. For instance, Trump’s claim about the current inflation rate being the worst in the nation’s history was disproved by data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, according to ABC News. Trump also incorrectly stated that he had nothing to do with the January 6 insurrection. Harris claimed that Trump left the country with the worst unemployment rate since the Great Depression, which was false. The unemployment rate was at 6.4 percent when Trump left office, which is better than during the Great Depression.
Ms. Balbian adds, “Undecided voters are the audience, and I think that if you’re undecided the fact-checking really helps.”
Throughout the debate, Harris and Trump set out different policy positions on issues, including abortion. While Trump believed that abortion law is better left to the states, Harris hoped to have Roe v. Wade codified into law.
Both candidates also disagreed on the best way to tackle illegal immigration. Whereas Trump pushed for mass deportation of illegal immigrants, Harris advocated for the passage of a border security bill that was shot down by Republicans in the spring.
Harris immediately called for another debate against Trump, who announced two days later that he would not participate again.
Looking toward the next couple of weeks, the Vice Presidential debate will be held on October 1 between Vance and Walz, hosted by CBS in New York City.
BLS AP Comparative Government and Politics and AP United States Government and Politics teacher, Ms. Meredith Elliott, expresses her thoughts about the months ahead, saying, “I don’t have expectations, because I’ve learned over the past few election cycles to just take it day by day and watch what happens and try to consume media from a variety of sources […] to try to get accurate information about what’s going on in politics to make an informed vote.”
The presidential election will be held on November 5. Early voting will be conducted in the weeks leading up to the election, with all voters in Massachusetts being sent an application for mail-in voting.
The new president will be inaugurated on January 20, 2025.
