Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris took the presidential debate stage at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia on Sept. 10, 2024.
The debate was broadcasted by ABC News and moderated by David Muir and Lindsey Davis.
There was no audience in the National Convention Center to create “an intimate environment” for the candidates who have never met.
The debate ran for 90 minutes with two commercial breaks. Each candidate was allowed two minutes to answer questions, two minutes for rebuttals and one minute for any clarification or responses. No information or questions were shared with the candidates prior to the debate and microphones were off when the candidates were not permitted to speak. All rules were agreed on prior to the debate beginning.
Former President Donald Trump won the coin toss, leading him to have the final closing statement in the debate and Vice President Harris selected to debate on the podium to the right.
The first topic discussed was the cost of living in the United States, which is a primary concern for voters in 2024.
The Science State and Technology Institute reports that 40% of Americans struggle to make ends meet each month. The Department of Housing and Urban Development reported that, as of 2023, there were 653,104 homeless in America, which was a 12.1 percent increase in homelessness since 2022.
Kamala Harris proposed an opportunity economy, allowing middle and low class Americans to have the opportunities for jobs, healthcare, education and other necessities.
“My plan is to give a $50,000 tax deduction to start-up small businesses, knowing they are part of the backbone of America’s economy. My opponent, on the other hand, his plan is to do what he has done before, which is to provide a tax cut for billionaires and big corporations, which will result in $5 trillion to America’s deficit,” Harris said.
Harris also proposed up to a 6,000 a year child tax credit and offered tax deductions for small businesses.
Trump wants to impose “substantial tariffs” on other countries and “cut taxes very substantially” in America. He believes that the rest of the world needs to pay America back for the past 75 years.
Trump and Harris then debated about the issue of abortion rights.
In 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, which gave women the choice to an abortion. The abortion laws are now up to the states. Abortion is banned or strict in 21 out of the 50 states, withmore to come.
“I have talked to women around our country…This is what people wanted? Pregnant women who want to carry a pregnancy to term, suffering from a miscarriage, being denied care in an emergency room because the health care providers are afraid they might go to jail, and she’s bleeding out in a car in the parking lot- she didn’t want that. Her husband didn’t want that. A 12 or 13 year old survivor of incest being forced to carry a pregnancy to term? They don’t want that,” Harris said.
Part of Harris’s stance is that if Trump was elected, he would sign a national abortion ban into law.
In response, Trump denied that claim and began to criticize the bans in Florida and Arizona, and said that his administration would “be great for women and their reproductive rights.”
Immigration is at an all time high, especially illegal immigration and is an important issue among American voters.
This past June, the Biden administration imposed strict new asylum restrictions at the Southern Border.
Trump claims that crime is higher in America since the Biden administration took office because of the immigrants they are letting into the country. The FBI says that this is false information. However, Trump has continued to justify the claim.
“And a lot of towns don’t want to talk — not going to be Aurora or Springfield. A lot of towns don’t want to talk about it because they’re so embarrassed by it. In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs. The people that came in. They’re eating the cats. They’re eating — they’re eating the pets of the people that live there. And this is what’s happening in our country. And it’s a shame,” Trump said.
ABC News reached out to the city manager, who has since denied this claim.
Trump wants to do a national deportation of undocumented immigrants using the military, local police and national guard.
Harris counters by bringing up Trump’s 34 felony counts, which leads Trump to bringing up his asassination attempt and speculating that it was because of the things the Democrats say about him.
The debate moves forward with issues discussed such as fracking, peaceful transfer of power, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Israel and other wars, weaponization, healthcare and other issues affecting our country.
