Another Debate Post Mortem

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Another Debate Post Mortem
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Another Debate Post Mortem

Over at HotAir, Ed Morrissey further analyzes Tuesday night’s debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. He notes that while media outlets celebrated Harris for rattling Trump, her performance was more about optics than substance. Harris succeeded in keeping Trump on the defensive, but she avoided questions on her policies. Trump, meanwhile, tried to focus on the Biden-Harris administration’s record. However, even diehard Trump fans agree that he could have been more precise.

From Morrissey:

Trump could have done better on focusing attacks on Harris' flip-flops, which ABC's questions touched on but didn't demand explanations from Harris. He did try to remind voters of her radical past (and likely present), but he could have done more and offered more specifics on those. And for the most part, Trump remained disciplined and avoided personal attacks, even when Muir tried to goad him into a debate over Harris' identity -- a question he should have repudiated entirely rather than engage, even to the limited extent he did.

Trump may not have been effective enough in all of these efforts for that to break through. But then again, he was debating three people on stage, not one, and part of his effort went into responding to Muir and Davis as well.

The debate likely didn’t shift many voters, especially among independents. Morrissey concludes that despite some setbacks, Trump’s appeal remains strong due to widespread dissatisfaction with the Biden-Harris administration’s performance in addressing issues on Americans’ minds.

In a separate article, Morrissey notes that Reuters focus group right after the debate had some surprising results. According to MSN, “Reuters interviewed 10 people who were still unsure how they were going to vote in the Nov. 5 election before they watched the debate. Six said afterward they would now either vote for Trump or were leaning toward backing him. Three said they would now back Harris and one was still unsure how he would vote.”

Morrissey posits:

Voters -- even undecided voters -- are not interested in DQs. They want that meat on the bones, and more to the point, they want a real change from the past four years. Harris not only is part of that status quo, she won't even offer an explanation of what will be different. These voters saw that, and decided to opt for actual change rather than an extension of the Biden administration.

Does this one focus group offer a predictive model from last night's debate? Don't count on it, but also don't get caught up in the zinger approach either. 

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