Republican nominee Donald Trump announced on Thursday that he would not participate in another presidential debate against Kamala Harris ahead of the November 5 election, following several polls showing his Democratic rival won their recent debate.
“THERE WILL BE NO THIRD DEBATE!” the former president posted on the social media platform Truth Social. Trump had previously debated President Joe Biden in June before facing Harris earlier this week.
While Trump boasted about his performance against Harris, six Republican donors and three of his advisers told Reuters that they believed Harris had won the debate, primarily because Trump struggled to stay on message. The debate drew 67.1 million television viewers, according to Nielsen data.
Speaking at a rally shortly after Trump’s announcement, Harris said, “I believe we owe it to the voters to have another debate.”
Despite Trump’s claims that polls showed him as the debate winner, multiple surveys indicated that Harris outperformed him. According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Thursday, 53% of voters who followed the debate said Harris won, while 24% favored Trump.
The poll also showed that 54% of registered voters felt the single debate between Trump and Harris was sufficient, while 46% wanted a second debate. A CNN flash poll similarly found that a majority believed Harris had outperformed Trump, and YouGov reported that 54% of respondents thought Harris won, compared to 31% who believed Trump was the victor.
Source: Reuters
