The first debate between the two candidates running in the U.S. presidential race was a fractious exchange that shed little new light on policy details but is likely to be politically consequential.
- The first, and potentially only, debate between US Democratic presidential candidate, Kamala Harris and her Republican rival, Donald Trump was held on September 10 and was light on policy details.
- Both candidates reiterated some of the pledges they have made before the November 5 presidential election. For Harris, this included outlining her social spending priorities while Trump highlighted his plan to deport millions of undocumented migrants and to hike trade tariffs. However, neither faced detailed challenges on the fiscal or economic consequences of some of their key proposals.
- Foreign policy discussions focused largely on the Russia-Ukraine and the Middle East conflicts without drilling into the details of how the two candidates’ policies would differ. Past comments suggest both sides would take a hawkish stance on China but divergence is likely on how they would approach allies and on issues such as climate change.
“The US election debate was light on the two candidates’ policy agendas as both stuck to high-level answers with little in the way of specific measures or details of how they would accomplish their objectives.”
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