MINNEAPOLIS — Issues such as inflation, foreign policy and immigration are on the agenda. top of mind for many voters as the 2024 presidential election approaches.
Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris took the debate stage Tuesday night. Some analysts, including Republicans, are giving Harris the victory in the debate. So what impact will this have on a deadlocked race?
Minnesota Leaders responded to the debatewhere many answers lie along party lines.
Larry Jacobs, a professor at the University of Minnesota, said Harris “put Trump in a position to defend his record while positioning herself as part of a new generation ready to turn the page.”
Senator Lindsey Graham called the debate a “disaster” and a “missed opportunity” for Trump.
Many analysts agreed that Harris did a good job of keeping Trump off-topic and her own past policies out of the spotlight, something they felt Trump should have paid more attention to.
Republican strategist Amy Koch agreed with that assessment. However, she said Trump “wiped the floor with her [Harris] on foreign policy she didn’t have good answers, and frankly you can link her to someone [President] Biden. At one point she said, ‘I’m not Biden.’ But you’ve been part of that administration for four years, you can’t isolate yourself.”
Koch said Trump’s criticism of Harris and the current administration’s record on foreign policy and the economy is valid, saying both “belong to Biden and Harris.”
Democratic strategist Abou Amara had a different view.
“If you vote for the top of the ticket, you’re voting for the top of the ticket. You’re not voting for number two,” Amara said. “I think they [Harris] has done a good job of taking the first step in outlining a vision that stands in stark contrast to that of Donald Trump.”
Esmé Murphy
