Ring clear for Kamala Harris and Donald Trump: The first and probably only TV duel of the US election campaign between the Democratic candidate and the Republican candidate for the presidency began in the USA on Tuesday evening. Almost two months before the presidential election, the two opponents faced off in a 90-minute war of words at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. The ABC broadcaster is broadcasting the TV duel, and millions of people in the USA and other countries are watching the speech battle on television.
The TV duel is given great importance because the 59-year-old vice president and the 78-year-old ex-president are in a close neck-and-neck race in the polls. The two very different candidates have never met in person. For Harris it is the first TV duel, for Trump, who is running for the third time in a presidential election, the seventh.
There is a lot at stake; some TV duels have decided the US election. Mistakes or mistakes can have devastating consequences – in the case of outgoing incumbent Joe Biden, his failure in the duel with Trump on June 27 meant the end of his plan to move into the White House for another four years despite his old age.
Important topics in the debate are likely to be economic and migration policy, but the abortion issue and foreign policy are also likely to be discussed, as well as the criminal proceedings pending against Trump for election manipulation.
The rules for the TV battle are meticulously defined. The microphone will be muted for the candidate whose turn it is. The candidate has two minutes to answer, and two minutes are then given for a reply. There are no spectators in the room.
The venue, Philadelphia, is in the state of Pennsylvania, which is one of the so-called swing states. In these states, the result of the presidential election on November 5th is in the balance, which is why they are particularly hotly contested.
