How Did the Presidential Candidates Fare in the Second Debate?

As a flash poll conducted by SSRS for CNN shows, 63 percent of polled watchers of the September 10 presidential debate said that Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris did a better job at arguing her policies and countering her opponent, former President Donald Trump. The debate hosted and broadcast by ABC News is the second in the current election campaign and will most likely be the last for Harris and Trump on a nationally televised stage. On October 2, the respective Vice President picks Republican Senator J.D. Vance and Democratic Governor Tim Walz will debate each other on CBS News.

Harris not only beat Trump in the eyes of polled debate watchers, she also fared considerably better than President Joe Biden in his first debate against his opponent. After the first presidential debate, only one third of polled debate watchers thought Biden did better than Trump. Biden's performance sparked discussions about the mental and physical fitness of the president, which led to Biden stepping down from his re-election bid in July and his Vice President becoming the official nominee for her party on August 5.

While Harris, on average, leads Trump in the popular vote by 1.1 percent according to most recent data from RealClear Polling, the decision on who will become the next president will most likely again rest on swing states like Michigan, Pennsylvania or Georgia. These states historically don't lean toward any candidate simply by merit of party affiliation and are therefore highly contested.

In these states in particular, candidate stances on key topics tackled in the second presidential debate including inflation, abortion, immigration and the current state of the economy can sway the outcome in the last minute. So even with Harris being buoyed by a strong campaign start and her debate performance, nothing is decided yet.