The 2024 presidential race is reaching a boiling point as Kamala Harris and Donald Trump prepare for a high-stakes debate that could make or break their campaigns, multiple US media outlets report. With national polls showing a razor-thin margin between the candidates, both camps are pulling out all the stops to gain an edge.
Set for a 90-minute slugfest with two commercial breaks, the debate will force Harris and Trump to think on their feet. Each will have just two minutes for responses and rebuttals, leaving little room for error in what promises to be a political spectacle for the ages.
As the clock ticks down, Harris and Trump are crisscrossing battleground states, focused on swaying undecided voters. Harris is championing democracy, while Trump hammers home his message on immigration and inflation. Despite the deadlocked state of the national polls, what ultimately matters is the number of states each wins and who gets the most populous states – since their weight is greater in the electoral college, whose electors cast the final ballot in the election in December 2024.
A CBS/YouGov poll from this week showed Harris having a slight edge in Michigan (50%-49%) and Wisconsin (51%-49) while being tied in Pennsylvania. However, in all three states, this is a statistical dead heat. This is also the case in Georgia, North Carolina, and Nevada. In another swing state, Arizona, Trump currently beats Harris by five points, 49% to 44%, according to a CNN/SSRS poll from late August.
"We will defeat inflation, and we will make America affordable again," Trump declared at a recent rally, taking aim at his opponent's economic record. Harris, meanwhile, has bunkered down for an intensive four-day "debate camp," recognizing the make-or-break nature of her upcoming face-off with Trump. Her team is reportedly crafting strategies to bait Trump into incoherent responses, aiming to showcase Harris' cool under pressure.
The Democratic camp is bringing out the big guns to support their candidate. In a stunning move, former Vice President Dick Cheney crossed party lines to endorse Harris, warning that Trump represents "the greatest threat to our republic."
Trump's team has focused on economic issues to woo suburban voters. As both candidates sharpen their debate skills, insiders report that Trump's advisors are on edge about his ability to keep his cool, especially when facing off against Harris. The former president's notoriously unpredictable debate style could be a double-edged sword in this high-stakes showdown. With the debate looming, tensions are at an all-time high. Democratic figures like Doug Emhoff – Harris' husband – and her running mate, VP nominee Minnesota Governor Tim Walz are blitzing swing states, while New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham is set to host events hammering Trump's policies on abortion rights and their impact on Latino families.
