With the November 5 election approaching, U.S. Vice President Harris is pushing for a second presidential debate next month, while former President Trump has refused, citing the start of early voting in some states.
Democratic presidential candidate Harris challenged Trump on social media on September 21: "I will be happy to participate in the second presidential debate on October 23. I hope Trump will join me." Trump then rejected the "invitation" at a campaign rally in Wilmington, North Carolina on the 21st, responding: "The problem with holding another debate is that it's too late. The voting has already begun."
On the 22nd, Harris told supporters at a fundraiser in New York City, "He (referring to Trump) should accept it because I feel very strongly that we have a responsibility to the American people and voters to meet again before Election Day." She added, "We should have another debate. My opponent is looking for reasons to avoid it."
Harris acknowledged that early voting has begun in some U.S. states, but noted it is a close race with more than a month to go.
Harris has been gaining momentum since replacing Biden as the presidential candidate. An NBC News poll released last Sunday showed Harris leading Trump by 5 percentage points.
Asked how they feel about Harris since she became a candidate, 48% of the 1,000 registered voters surveyed gave her a positive rating, compared with 32% in a July survey, marking the largest jump in approval ratings in an NBC poll of politicians since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
When asked about Trump, 40% of respondents said they had a positive view of him, compared with 38% in July. The poll was conducted Sept. 13-17 and has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
A separate CBS News poll also found Harris leading Trump by 4 points among likely voters, 52% to 48%, with a margin of error of 2 percentage points.
The results are broadly in line with other recent national polls, including one from Reuters/Ipsos, that show a close race between the two candidates in the Nov. 5 election.
While national polls provide important signals about voters' views, the results of the Electoral College in each state will determine the winner, with a handful of battleground states likely to be decisive.
At the same time, Harris's gap with Trump in terms of "money power" is also widening. Harris' campaign raised more than $189 million in August, more than four times the $44 million raised by Trump's campaign. Although Harris' campaign also spent far more than Trump in August, the vice president still had $404 million in cash on hand at the end of the month, dwarfing the $295 million Trump accumulated for the final sprint to the November election.
Harris, 59, is a former U.S. senator and prosecutor who now serves under Biden. If she succeeds in entering the White House, she will become the first woman to serve as president in the 248-year history of the United States.
Trump, 78, who is running for the White House for the third time after losing to Biden in 2020, said on Sunday he would not run for the US presidency for a fourth time if he loses the November 5 election.
Article forwarded from: Jinshi Data
