Analysis: Tuesday Night’s Debate Goes Just About As Expected, Houston Political Experts Say

Nancy Sims, a University of Houston political science lecturer, said she gave Vice President and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris the edge in Tuesday night’s presidential debate as Harris was successful in “gracefully baiting” her opponent, former President Donald Trump.

According to Sims, the Republican presidential nominee couldn’t avoid getting rattled on stage during the hours-long back-and-forth. At times, Trump appeared angry and flustered throughout the exchange, while Harris maintained her composure, even laughing at some of the former president’s outlandish claims.

“The Trump team [was] looking for him to be solid without being overly aggressive to the point he creates sympathy for her,” Sims said. “Harris’s team was biting their fingernails, praying that she could hold her own with Trump.”

Harris’s first assertion of power took place when she launched herself toward Trump before the debate began with her hand extended. Her first remarks to the former president were, “Let’s have a good debate.” Trump did not go out of his way to approach her, standing close to his podium, but he reciprocated the exchange, saying, “Nice to see you. Have fun.”

As Rice University Political Science Professor Mark Jones anticipated, the former president’s attempted nail in Harris’s coffin was his portrayal of the vice president as an extension of President Joe Biden.

“There’ll be an effort to tie her as much as possible to the Biden Administration and many of its more unpopular policies,” Jones said.

Trump linked Harris to what he illustrated as the current administration’s failings throughout Tuesday night, pointing to flawed border security measures and what the former president described as higher-than-ever inflation.

Sims described Harris’s challenge in the debate as the “new commodity,” leaving viewers wanting to see more details on where she stood with core issues to voters. Conversely, Trump has been in the political sphere for nearly a decade, so many know what to expect from his policy stances.

“Many people are a little more prepared for what he says than they are with her,” Sims said.

Jones echoed Sims’s sentiments and noted that this was a particularly difficult challenge, as hammering out how policies would be implemented could prove difficult in a debate setting.

“You’re on the clock,” Jones said, “You’re dealing with a viewing public that isn’t going to be able to follow you for multiple minutes discussing the finer details of policies.”

Jones was correct that the candidates would follow the playbooks they’ve laid out this election cycle. They reiterated their stances on several key topics, including the economy, immigration, abortion, the energy transition, foreign relations and the future of democracy in the United States.

Harris stated that she had every intention to codify Roe V. Wade or the constitutional right to an abortion for women across the United States. The Democratic presidential nominee also spoke on plans she has to economically support families and small businesses and on efforts she would make toward a clean energy transition without uprooting the oil, gas and coal industries entirely.

Trump stood steadfast in his ability to strengthen foreign relations and curb the “border crisis” or influx of “illegal aliens” into the country. He added that he would fix what he described as the country’s bad elections and reduce living costs to improve people’s financial situations.

However, there were still moments when both struggled to find their footing, such as when Trump made repeated claims that had previously been discounted.

David Muir, an anchor for ABC World News Tonight and one of the debate’s moderators, debunked  in real time the claim made by Trump that Haitian immigrants were eating dogs and cats. Muir read aloud a statement from the city manager of Springfield, Ohio where the allegations started. The statement denied any valid reports of such incidents occurring.

Harris was criticized for appearing to skirt around questions on what some political experts have described as her flip-flopping positions. When moderator Linsey Davis — anchor of the Sunday edition of ABC World News Tonight — asked the vice president about these switch-ups, she appeared to dodge the matter.

Harris did assert she was clear about fracking since pivoting from saying she opposed it during an earlier election cycle. The vice president took a broader stroke approach, adding that her “values have not changed,” placing a blanket statement over her other presidential priorities.

The moderators also attempted to get clear-cut answers from Trump about whether he would support the implementation of a nationwide abortion ban and if he would’ve handled anything differently on January 6. The Republican presidential nominee declined to answer the abortion-related question directly, saying it wouldn’t matter because neither he nor Harris could get the votes in the U.S. Congress to further the effort.

The former president also danced around Muir’s request for him to say if he had any regrets regarding his participation in the insurrection in the U.S. Capitol.

The soft-served policy stances and quick-spun political — sometimes personal — jabs created a charged, borderline combative atmosphere at the nearly two-hour debate. Sims noted that protocol to prevent candidates from talking out of turn, such as the muted microphones, did not seem to accomplish much in maintaining order. Viewers could hear Harris and Trump muttering additional comments occasionally while each other was talking.

Tuesday marked the first time the Democratic and Republican presidential nominees faced off against one another this election cycle. The last presidential debate featured Biden and Trump and took place before Biden ended his bid for reelection.

Harris announced her campaign in late July and subsequently chose running mate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, who is scheduled to debate Trump’s vice presidential pick, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, on Tuesday, October 1.

Harris’s campaign called for a second debate against Trump less than an hour after Tuesday night’s event ended. Trump has not committed to a second match-up with the vice president.