Harris vs. Trump: What strategies did the U.S. presidential candidates use in the debates?

In the US, the current Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, the 45th President of the United States, and Republican candidate, Donald Trump, held a televised debate live on ABC News. It was the first time the presidential candidates met in person before the November 5, 2024 elections.

Before these debates, Harris and Trump were neck and neck in the polls. Over 105 minutes, the candidates discussed the economy, illegal immigration, abortion rights and other issues critical to the US. A separate part of the debates focused on the Russian-Ukrainian war.

Svidomi tells the candidates' policies on the war in Ukraine, Harris' criticism of her opponent, and how the Republican leader plans to end the war within 24 hours.

Donald Trump blamed the Biden administration, with Kamala Harris as vice president, for inflation and rising prices. He also repeated claims of a "fraudulent election" in 2020 and called Harris a "Marxist".

He said it was a "disaster for the people, for the middle class, for all classes."

When asked by the moderators about his public statements that Kamala Harris "pretends to be Black" to boost her ratings, he replied that he didn't care "what she wants to consider herself." In response, Harris expressed regret that "who wants to be president who has consistently over the course of his career attempted to use race to divide the American people."

Kamala Harris also emphasised that during Donald Trump's presidency, the US had "the worst unemployment since the Great Depression".

Harris further mentioned her plan for developing an "opportunity economy." She presented a strategy for providing tax breaks to American families.

Kamala Harris also criticised Trump's plan to increase tariffs on imported goods, comparing this proposal to a sales tax on the middle class.

In defence of his proposal to impose tariffs on imported goods, Trump argued that it would not lead to price increases.

During the debate, Donald Trump accused the Biden administration of allowing tens of millions of immigrants to enter the US during its time in office.

The claim that migrants from Haiti in Springfield, Ohio, are kidnapping and eating pets like cats and dogs was debunked by the moderators.

In response, Kamala Harris said she supported a border security bill that would have increased the number of border agents by 1,500. However, according to her, Donald Trump has blocked it. He called congressmen and said the bill should be "killed" so it wouldn't pass.

Donald Trump said during the debate that if he were president he would end the Russian-Ukrainian war within 24 hours. When asked by the moderator, "Do you want Ukraine to win this war?" Donald Trump replied:

"I want the war to stop. I want to save lives that are being uselessly, people being killed by the millions. It's the millions. It's so much worse than the numbers that you're getting, which are fake numbers,"

He also repeated that if he had been president, Putin would not have invaded Ukraine.

When asked if it's important for the US that Ukraine wins, Trump avoided a direct answer.

"I think it's in the US best interest to get this war finished and just get it done. All right. Negotiate a deal. Because we have to stop all of these human lives from being destroyed," Donald Trump said.

The Republican candidate also claimed that Kamala Harris had allegedly been sent to negotiate with Putin to prevent Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, but she failed.

The 45th US president also accused the Biden administration of weak policies, in particular the hasty withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, which Trump said had emboldened Putin to invade Ukraine.

Trump insisted that only he dared to demand equal security contributions from allies.

"We're in for 250 billion or more because they [the administration] don't ask Europe. Biden and you [Harris] don't have the courage to ask Europe like I did with NATO. They paid billions and billions, hundreds of billions of dollars when I said either you pay up or we're not going to protect you anymore," Trump said.

In response, Harris recalled that Trump had described Putin's move to invade Ukraine in February 2022 as "genius".

The US presidential candidate stressed that Ukraine has the right to defend itself and that the US, along with its allies, is helping it resist the Russian army.

"Supporting Ukraine is in America's interest, although perhaps President Biden and Kamala Harris don't talk about it enough with Americans. But supporting Ukraine is not just an altruistic project. This struggle is in line with US national interests, which is why Biden's team is consciously supporting Ukraine," says Volodymyr Dubovyk.

The vice president also accused the Republican candidate of being too friendly with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, adding that "dictators and autocrats are waiting for Trump to return to office" to manipulate him.

When asked by the host about the attack by Hamas militants on Israel on October 7, 2023, Trump said the attack wouldn't have happened if he were president of the US.

In response, Kamala Harris declared her opponent's national security and foreign policy "weak and wrong".

"It's well known that he admires dictators," Harris said. She noted that Trump "has said from day one [in the White House] that he wants to be a dictator".

Trump announced his support for the 2022 US Supreme Court ruling that overturned the constitutional right to abortion and handed the issue to individual states.

"I did everybody a great service in doing it. It took courage," Trump said during the debate.

The Republican leader clarified that there are states in the US where it is legal to have an abortion in the ninth month of pregnancy and even after the birth of a child. However, this claim was debunked by the debate moderators.

Harris was outraged by Trump's claim that the people supported the devolution of abortion to the states.

"People wanted this? — Harris asked. — People are being denied emergency room care because health care workers are afraid of going to jail?"

Kamala Harris said Trump should not be telling women what to do with their bodies.

The Vice President emphasised that Trump's abortion policy does not allow for abortion in cases of rape or incest.

The moderators asked Trump if he would veto a federal ban on abortion if Congress passed such a law. Trump said that would never happen but refused to give a yes or no answer.

Kamala Harris' main goal was to introduce herself to the audience. Nearly 30% of voters wanted to know more about her, while only 9% wanted to know more about Trump.

Harris spent the week before the debate preparing: watching Trump's previous six debates — three with Hillary Clinton and three with Joe Biden. She consulted with both of them, prepared responses to potential arguments, and staged mock debates with an aide playing Trump. Harris's strategy was to keep Trump off balance with sharp questions or "snarky" comments. She hoped that the debate organisers, ABC News, would not mute her microphone while her opponent spoke. But during the Trump-Biden debate in May, the microphones were muted. So, the network didn't change the rules this time.

Donald Trump claimed that he did little preparation for the debate. But he did mention that he had met with advisers who told him to remind Harris of Biden's weak leadership constantly and to argue that she, too, was responsible for it. Instead of sharp comments, they told him to use facial expressions and avoid showing aggression. In their view, a "gentler" Trump would appeal more to voters.

Trump didn't see Harris as a serious opponent and hoped that if he asked her a tough question, she would "bury herself".

Before the public debate, Trump criticised ABC News, the debate organiser. "This is the worst network regarding fairness," he said on Fox News. "They're very disgusting, and I think many people are going to see how bad they are."

In comments to reporters, Trump called his debate performance with Kamala Harris the best of his political career.

According to him, Donald Trump initially stuck to a certain strategy but "lost his advantageous position". In some cases, he spread unverified information.

According to a CNN poll conducted by SSRS, registered voters believed that Harris performed better by a margin of 63% to 37%. The poll results reflect the opinions of voters who watched the debate and are not representative of all eligible voters.

Harris's campaign said she was ready for another debate with Donald Trump in October. However, Trump wrote on Truth Social that he would not participate in another debate.

"There will be no third debate," Trump wrote, referring to two rounds of debates with Biden and Harris. The Republican also claimed that polls allegedly showed him winning the first round of debates against the Democrat.

It should be noted that Harris challenged Trump to an additional debate immediately after their clash, and Fox News offered to host it.

Finally, Trump added that Harris and Joe Biden had "ruined the country".