Sylvie Claire / September 10, 2024
The September 10 debate will be one of the most decisive moments of the U.S. presidential campaign, and each of the two camps has its own way of preparing for it.
On Donald Trump's side, it's in the form of “political meetings”. There's no talk of debate preparation in the Republican's entourage. The former president sits around a table with his advisers, who ask him questions or remind him of his record in the White House.
Donald Trump's advisors hope he will stick to political questions without falling into misogynistic, racist or long-winded answers. They are determined to avoid the image of an overly aggressive and chaotic Donald Trump.
In Kamala Harris's camp, preparation is more studious. It's taking place in a hotel where the Democrat's team has set up a replica of the studio where the debate is to take place, and one of her advisors is even playing the role of Donald Trump.
The Vice President hasn't had to debate her record or her policies since her candidacy for the Democratic primaries over four years ago. Her team hopes that she will be able to define her program well and score points against Donald Trump in a race that is still very close.
With two days to go before their televised duel, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump remain neck-and-neck in new polls released on Sunday, September 8, making the American presidential election on November 5as indecisive as ever. The Republican billionaire, who portrays himself as the champion of downgraded Americans and victims of inflation, remains in a position to become President of the United States again in January 2025, despite his legal troubles and the chaos that surrounded his departure from the White House in 2021.
For her part, Kamala Harris, who remobilized the Democratic camp after her late entry into the campaign to replace Joe Biden, is also in a position to win, according to these polls. Nationally, 78-year-old Donald Trump leads the U.S. Vice President by just one point (48% to 47%), according to a New York Times/Siena College survey conducted from September 3 to 6, a gap too close to draw a trend.