By ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON and BILL BARROW Related Press
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump emerged Wednesday from a rocky debate towards Kamala Harris trying to regain his footing with 54 days till Election Day, the primary ballots already going out in Alabama and different states on the cusp of early voting.
Not even three months in the past, Trump stepped off the controversy stage in Atlanta having watched President Joe Biden ship a disjointed, whispery performance that ultimately led the 81-year-old Democrat to end his reelection bid and endorse Harris, his vice chairman. By the top of Tuesday night time, it was the 78-year-old Trump on the defensive after the 59-year-old Harris managed a lot of the controversy, repeatedly baiting the Republican former president into agitated solutions replete with exaggerations and mistruths.
“We’ll see what the polls say going ahead, however I don’t know the way anyone can spin this apart from a reasonably decisive defeat for Trump,” former Rep. Charlie Dent, a Pennsylvania Republican who has lengthy been vital of Trump, mentioned Wednesday on CNN.
Harris’ marketing campaign instantly pitched the concept of a second debate. Fox Information has proposed an October matchup however with moderators that Trump has indicated he doesn’t desire. And he mentioned through his Fact Social account Wednesday that there isn’t any want for a second spherical,
“Within the World of Boxing or UFC, when a Fighter will get overwhelmed or knocked out, they rise up and scream, “I DEMAND A REMATCH, I DEMAND A REMATCH!” Properly, it’s no completely different with a Debate,” Trump wrote, as he claimed victory. “She was overwhelmed badly final night time … so why would I do a Rematch?”
Trump and Harris have been collectively briefly Wednesday in New York, the place they joined President Biden and different dignitaries to mark the twenty third anniversary of the Sept. 11 assaults on the World Commerce Heart. They shook arms for the second time in 12 hours, with the primary coming when Harris approached Trump on the controversy stage to introduce herself within the first signal of the aggressive method she would take throughout the occasion.
The previous president, who flouted conference with a shock look late Tuesday within the post-debate spin room, continued to insist he had received the night time, although he additionally blasted ABC moderators as unfair. It was a tacit acknowledgement that he didn’t accomplish what he wished towards Harris.
Trump and a few of his allies in on-line posts speculated about punishing ABC by taking away its broadcast license — the community doesn’t want a license to function however particular person stations do — or denying entry to its reporters sooner or later.
“We had an excellent night time. We received the controversy. We had a horrible, a horrible community,” Trump mentioned Wednesday on Fox Information. “They need to be embarrassed. I imply they saved correcting me and what I mentioned was largely proper or I hope it was proper.”
But his framing of the controversy outcomes doesn’t sq. with the broad consensus of political commentators, strategists on either side of the political aisle and a few rapid assessments by voters who watched Tuesday night time. However there’s additionally proof that the controversy didn’t instantly yield broad shifts amongst individuals who watched.
About 6 in 10 debate-watchers mentioned that Harris outperformed Trump, whereas about 4 in 10 mentioned that Trump did a greater job, in keeping with a flash ballot conducted by CNN. Earlier than the controversy, the identical voters have been evenly cut up on whether or not Trump or Harris would win.
The overwhelming majority of debate-watchers — who don’t replicate the views of the total voting public — additionally mentioned that the occasion wouldn’t have an effect on their votes within the election. Perceptions of the 2 candidates stay largely unchanged.
Harris was jubilant late Tuesday, telling late-night rallygoers in Philadelphia that it was a “nice night time,” whilst she repeated that she sees Democrats as “underdogs” towards Trump. She received the endorsement of music and cultural icon Taylor Swift.
Republican Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire was extra charitable to Trump than some, permitting that Harris received by conventional debate requirements however fell quick in convincing swing voters centered on their financial situations.
“Nearly all of these swing voters are nonetheless outcomes pushed,” Sununu mentioned on CNN, including that Trump nonetheless has alternatives to sway voters on the financial system, immigration and, particularly, international coverage.
That view was actually the Republican messaging on Capitol Hill, the place the GOP is attempting to take care of its fragile Home majority and benefit from a pleasant slate of Senate contests to flip management of that chamber.
“Undecided voters’ largest concern about Kamala Harris heading into the controversy was the truth that they don’t know the place she stands on any points due to her fixed flip flops,” mentioned Mike Berg, the communications director for the Nationwide Republican Senatorial Committee, the Senate GOP’s marketing campaign arm. “I don’t assume she did something to repair these issues.”
Jack Pandol, the communications director for the Nationwide Republican Congressional Committee dealing with the Home races mentioned, Harris “nonetheless refuses to inform voters what she is going to do as president.”
But even on that rating, Trump handed Democrats a cudgel together with his solutions on well being. After twice working for president on guarantees of repealing and changing the Inexpensive Care Act, generally referred to as “Obamacare,” Trump falsely insisted that he saved the 2010 legislation. On the identical time, Trump stood by his long-standing guarantees to switch the legislation with one thing higher however when pressed acknowledged that he nonetheless had not particular proposal.
“I’ve ideas of a plan,” Trump mentioned in a comment that turn out to be fast fodder for on-line memes and merchandise.
Dent, the Pennsylvania Republican, mentioned that reply tracked with how Trump approached the difficulty throughout his 4 years as president. “He would solely say ‘we’re going to cowl everyone, it’s going to price much less, and it’s going to be lovely,’’ Dent recalled in his CNN look. “There was by no means any coverage to again it up. He simply didn’t care about its impression on individuals.”
Sununu, in the meantime, provided maybe essentially the most revealing evaluation of the place Trump stands after the controversy. It was not what Sununu mentioned about Trump himself, however about one other Republican the governor initially supported within the 2024 primaries: former Ambassador Nikki Haley, who was the final GOP candidate standing towards Trump and continued garnering help in primaries weeks after she dropped out of the race.
“Think about what Nikki would have accomplished in that debate,” Sununu mentioned. “It might have been nice.”
Barrow reported from Atlanta. AP Polling Editor Amelia Thomson-Deveaux, Related Press author Michelle L. Value and AP Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro in Washington contributed to this report.
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