Pennsylvania not only hosted the first debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, but also made some clear gestures to Keystone State voters that showed just how vital the state is to both campaigns — from exchanges about fracking to comments about Pennsylvanians of Polish and Ukrainian descent.
Alison Dagnes, a political science professor at Shippensburg University, noted that the fact that the first debate took place in Philadelphia confirms that it is a state the epicenter of the elections.
She added that while neither candidate caused a major upset, even a diminutive shift in support could change the outcome.
“It will matter on the margins, but this is an election that is being played on the margins,” Dagnes told the Capital-Star. “So it could, could move the needle a little bit.”
Berwood Yostdirector of the Center for Public Opinion Research and the Floyd Institute for Public Policy at Franklin & Marshall College, said the fact that both candidates talked about fracking sent a clear message to Pennsylvania voters, though its impact would likely be confined to some regions.
“The fracking belt runs from the southwest up through the northeast,” Yost said. “It kind of arcs across the state.”
Yost said that while many voters in places like rural southwestern Pennsylvania have abandoned the Democratic Party over the past two decades, Harris withdrawing her previous support in favor of banning fracking could facilitate her maintain Trump’s advantage in rural communities.
“So this message is to invite people in those areas who may be independent voters, may be Democrats, who rely on this industry,” Yost said. “You also see this as an vital part of the local economies, inviting them there. Inviting them to her candidacy. … It was a message aimed at those types of voters, not with the hope of winning them over, but with the hope of stemming losses.
Pennsylvania was the second largest gas producer in the country in 2022. And although some environmental groups They were terrified due to Harris’ support for a controversial mining technique that has long raised water concerns pollution AND health hazardsPennsylvania Independent Oil and Gas Association, who supported Trump in 2020, he told the Capital-Star that he was encouraged by “each candidate’s commitment to maintaining America’s position as a leading energy exporter and preserving our independence from foreign oil and natural gas.”
The group added that “continued development of oil and gas resources, especially through unconventional well drilling, is the only path for the United States to remain energy independent.” Harris is expected to “keep to her word that she will not support a ban on domestic oil and gas development that is only possible through drilling and hydraulic fracturing processes that are directly regulated by state agencies with federal support.”
Yost also cited Harris’s remarks about Polish-Americans living in Pennsylvania when talking about the war in Ukraine, another play to appeal to Pennsylvania voters. has a significant population of people Polish AND Ukrainian descent.
Will there be another debate?
It is unclear whether there will be another debate. Trump and other Republicans complained Wednesday that the previous ABC News late-night presidential debate was unfair.
But campaign teams also engaged through the news media on the possibility of organizing a second debate before the November 5 election.
Trump and his allies said ABC News moderators, “World News Tonight” anchor and editor-in-chief David Muir and Sunday night’s “World News Tonight” anchor and ABC News Live “Prime” anchor Linsey Davis, sided with Harris by fact-checking several of Trump’s more absurd claims.
“It was three to one,” Trump said Wednesday on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends,” referring to Harris and the two moderators. “It was a rigged deal, I would assume, because when you look at the fact that they were fixing everything, and they weren’t fixing her.”
During Tuesday night’s debate, Davis disputed Trump’s claim that former Democratic governor suggested the possibility of allowing abortion after the child is born.
“There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a child after birth,” Davis said.
Muir also challenged Trump when the former president repeated unfounded rumors that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, were stealing and eating residents’ pets. Muir said the Springfield city manager debunked those claims.
“A terribly moderated debate,” Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina told Fox News’ Sean Hannity after the debate. “It was three on one.”
ABC News representatives did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the criticism.
Harris slams Trump on abortion rights, race in tense presidential debate
Debate Poll
The view that ABC moderators favored Harris was not widely shared outside Republican circles.
IN YouGov poll Of the more than 3,000 adults surveyed, 40% said the moderators were fair and unbiased. The second most common response was “don’t know,” at 29%, while 27% of respondents said the moderators were biased against Harris.
A majority of independents, 32% and 69% of Democrats, also said the moderators were fair. Only a little over half of Republicans said Muir and Davis were unfair to Trump.
On his social media platform Truth Social, Trump boasted about his performance in the debate and posted several screenshots of right-wing media polls showing him winning the clash.
“Comrade Kamala Harris wants another debate because she lost so badly – just look at the polls! It’s true with boxers, when they lose a fight they want another one. MAGA2024,” Trump wrote in response to Harris’ campaign suggestion of a second meeting.
Trump defended his comments about Haitian migrants in Ohio. False claims circulated in right-wing circles and strengthened on social media on Monday by Trump’s vice presidential candidate, U.S. Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio.
He published police recordings published conservative news site The Federalist says migrants were seen carrying geese in overdue August. Trump also reposted the video, fact checked The Repository newspaper in Canton, Ohio, about a woman who had no known connection to the Caribbean country and lived in Canton. On August 16, she was arrested and charged with cruelty to animals, allegedly killing and eating them.
Ahead of the debate, Trump posted an AI-generated image of himself surrounded by cats and waterfowl aboard his private jet, as well as an army of cats wearing MAGA hats and carrying semi-automatic rifles.
“The Choice They Face”
During a 9/11 commemoration event in Shanksville, Trump apparently said he was open to two more debates hosted by NBC News and Fox News.
The NBC event was scheduled to take place on September 25, but Harris declined, preferring a date in October.
Fox executives Tuesday night renovated the station’s offer to host another debate in the state, which is underway, in October.
Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in an email that the former president’s comments on Fox News referred to a meeting with commentator Sean Hannity earlier this month.
“It was supposed to be on September 4th,” Leavitt wrote. “Kamala didn’t show up, so it turned into a town hall with Sean Hannity.”
Harris’ campaign has said the vice president wants another debate with Trump in October. Campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon reiterated that in a statement overdue Tuesday.
“Americans saw in the bright lights the choice they will face at the ballot box this fall: whether to go forward with Kamala Harris or back with Trump,” wrote O’Malley Dillon. “That’s what they saw tonight, and that’s what they should see in the second debate in October. Vice President Harris is ready for a second debate. Or Donald Trump?”
