Harris-Trump presidential debate: What are the rules, where can you watch it and how are the candidates doing in the polls

With less than 60 days to go until the presidential election that will mark the future of Americans, the two candidates will face each other in a presidential debate that will undoubtedly affect the election outcome. The event can be followed from 9 p.m. (Eastern Time) in streaming on the EL PAÍS website accompanied by the narration of our political analysts. The face-to-face will take place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, hosted by ABC News and will last 90 minutes.

Donald Trump arrives to tonight’s debate having won a first-round against President Joe Biden last June 27, who was harshly criticized for his performance and lack of capabilities at 81 years of age and pressured for weeks to not seek a second term. He finally announced on July 21 that he was dropping out of the race to make way for Vice President Kamala Harris. The move caused the Democrats to improve in the polls and to achieve record campaign fundraising figures, although everything has yet to be decided.

The former president was reluctant to debate after Biden’s withdrawal. However, he changed his strategy to express his intention to face Harris in a one-on-one that could be decisive in conquering the independent vote. Last week, the Republican candidate assured on his Truth Social platform that he reached a deal to debate on the same parameters as he did before with Biden. “I have reached an agreement with Radical Left Democrats for a Debate with Comrade Kamala Harris,” he wrote, attacking Harris. “It will be broadcast live on ABC FAKE NEWS, by far the nastiest and most unfair news network in the industry, on Tuesday, September 10 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The rules will be the same as the last CNN debate, which seemed to work well for everyone except, perhaps, corrupt Joe Biden,” he added. The Democratic candidate’s team confirmed the agreement days later.

The rules of the debate

As in the June debate, there will be no audience or written notes from the candidates. ABC also assured that only the moderators could ask the questions, which would not be sent in advance to ensure a fair and equitable exchange. Last Tuesday, the location and order of the closing statements were decided randomly. Trump won the coin toss and chose to make the closing statement, while Vice President Harris picked to be at the podium on the right side of the screen.

There will be no opening statements in the debate, and closing statements will be two minutes per candidate, the same amount of time both will have to answer each question, with a reply of another two minutes, and a one-minute counter-reply to follow up or clarify on the issue.

The point in dispute was about the turning on and off of microphones. “Trump’s handlers prefer the microphone muted because they don’t believe their candidate can act like a president for 90 minutes by himself,” Harris campaign spokesman Brian Fallon said, but they eventually prevailed. The microphones will be active only for the candidate whose turn it is to speak, one rule that will reduce the dynamism of the conversation but will avoid the cockfight that the 2020 debates became. The now Democratic presidential candidate’s line, “Mr. Vice President, I’m talking,” went viral at the time.

The main topics will not be known until the debate is held, but there will be no shortage of dissertations on the economy, inflation, the cost of living in North America, foreign policy amid the war in Gaza, citizen security, access to abortion and, of course, the immigration crisis and control of the southern border.

Where and when can you watch the debate?

The first presidential debate between Harris and Trump will be on Tuesday, September 10 at the National Constitution Center, in the city of Philadelphia (Pennsylvania), and will be broadcast on ABC News at 9 p.m. (Eastern U.S. time), and streamed through EL PAÍS, ABC News Live 24/7, Disney+ and Hulu, but the vast majority of networks will also broadcast the signal served by ABC News. It will be hosted by journalists David Muir and Linsey Davis. It will last 90 minutes, with two commercial breaks and the restriction of not talking to his advisors during that time, as happened in the Biden-Trump face-to-face.

How do the candidates fare in the polls?

They will do so with a technical tie. Four recent polls (Ipsos, Suffolk, The Economist and Yahoo News) give Harris a lead over her rival of up to four percentage points and indicate a trend in her favor among women, the Latino electorate and younger voters. Harris is the favorite for 11 of the 15 pollsters whose results are compiled by the RealClearPolitics (RCP) aggregator.

Experts point out that the route to the White House passes through seven key states (Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, Nevada and Arizona), and in these, the distance between Trump and Harris is very short. In the latest Reuters poll, the former president leads by two percentage points (45-43%), while in the most recent poll by the conservative Fox News, the vice president is two points ahead in the key states of Georgia and Nevada, and one point ahead in Arizona.

For its part, The New York Times claims that Harris is two points ahead in Michigan and Wisconsin, but is tied with Trump in Pennsylvania and Arizona. In Georgia, the Republicans are four points ahead. Current estimates say the vice president needs to retain a majority of the Democratic vote in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania to make history in November.

Will there be more debates?

This is the only debate scheduled at this time and could be the only one in which voters see Harris and Trump face each other head-to-head before the November election.

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