US election 2024 presidential debate: Kiwis say Vice-President Kamala Harris a clear winner over Donald Trump
Kiwis have had their say on who won the tense US election presidential debate between Democratic Vice-President Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump.
Harris and Trump faced off for the first time in Philadelphia on Wednesday, over two months after Trump debated President Joe Biden and just eight weeks before the November 5 election.
The candidates clashed over issues such as immigration, foreign policy and healthcare during the 90-minute debate.
In a non-scientific self-selecting survey on the Herald’s website, more than 26,000 people cast their votes on who they believed had the upper hand, crowning Harris as an overwhelming winner.
Harris received 81% of votes, a total of 21,655. Trump received the remaining 5014 votes.
Meanwhile, according to a poll taken by CNN and SSRS after the debate, 63% of watchers said Harris and 37% said Trump.
The poll has a margin of error of +/- 5.3% points.
CNN said that before the debate, respondents were completely split.
The CNN instant poll in June found that among debate watchers, 33% thought Biden won and 67% thought Trump won.
Trump and Harris were effectively tied heading into the final weeks of the election, according to a US-wide poll conducted by the New York Times and Siena College.
Meanwhile, Taylor Swift has publicly endorsed Harris for President in the upcoming election.
Shortly after the debate concluded, Swift shared an Instagram post telling fans that she would be voting for Harris and Tim Walz after watching the two candidates live and comparing “their proposed policies and plans for this country”.
“I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 Presidential Election,” Swift wrote on Instagram.
Swift explained she had seen fake AI images circulating of her “falsely endorsing Donald Trump’s presidential run”, which Trump had reposted on Truth Social.
“It really conjured up my fears around AI, and the dangers of spreading misinformation. It brought me to the conclusion that I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter,” she said.
Trump said he had “no idea” when asked by CNN what his reaction was to Swift’s endorsement of Harris.
He told CNN it was his “best debate”.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina told MSNBC that Donald Trump’s debate performance was a “disaster” in the spin room, saying that his debate team should be fired.
Sign up to The Daily H, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.