Undecided voters more likely to make up their minds after Harris-Trump debate
Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris debated together for the first time on Tuesday.
For nearly two hours, the two debated abortion rights, immigration and the ongoing wars in Gaza and Ukraine.
With just weeks to go until the US presidential election, candidates are competing for undecided voters.
The BBC spoke to a number of people who said the debate was crucial in determining who they would support in November.
We start with a voter who was undecided about supporting the former president.
This voter leaned toward Trump before the debate started and still leans that way, but was impressed with Harris’ performance.
I don’t think the debate changed my mind about voting for Trump, but I would certainly be less afraid if [Harris] win because i think she can handle herself and argue well.
Overall I haven’t changed, but I like her more now.
I lost a lot of faith in the Democrats when they told us Joe Biden was fine, but then it turned out he wasn’t, and it’s hard to trust that administration going forward.
I don’t want to vote for Trump, but I don’t like the current administration. I won’t change my mind before November, I’ll just be less worried if she wins.
This voter dislikes Trump and did not vote for any Democrat in 2016 or 2020, but after tonight’s debate, he will vote for Harris.
Tonight was the first night that I actually felt scared about the prospect of Trump winning a second term as president.
His answer was that he would spread fear about immigrants killing dogs, spread fear about World War III over and over again. Every time he said it, it was so scary that I had never felt it from him before.
And while I don’t like Harris, and I think she’s very ambiguous, she doesn’t pose the existential threat to America that he does.
This voter will definitely vote for Trump or Harris in November, she’s just undecided.
I thought both candidates answered pretty well, but I thought Kamala answered more questions than Trump.
I never really saw anything about it. [Harris] so I’m looking for her opinion. so I’m pretty comfortable with some of the things she said and actually what former President Trump said, but I feel like he’s very devious.
I don’t trust [Trump]I don’t think he wants to run the country, I think he wants to own the country.
This voter said the debate clearly outlined the images of both candidates, but leaned toward Harris after the debate.
Trump was all over the place. He was baited into a lot of questions that he had to answer perfectly like immigration and abortion, but he was surprised with the crowd size statements, which were really revealing.
I feel like Kamala is much better prepared for this than Donald Trump.
Personally I would love to see her in more one on one interviews after this show, this is the first time I’ve seen her without Tim Walz and in my opinion she did well.
If she got out more, spoke directly to the nation more, she would have my vote at that point.
This voter is still undecided, but said after the debate he was 51% Harris, 49% Trump. However, he said there is still time to change that.
The debate didn’t change much about my opinion of Trump. It was more like an audition for Kamala Harris to see who she is, where she stands on policy, and how well she can command the stage.
To me, she seemed pretty well rehearsed, but she made a lot of provocative statements that I think Trump reacted to very strongly – he was a little confused, and quite angry.
All of this seemed quite calculated to me, and that’s not exactly what I expected from her. I expected her to be a little more approachable, a little more natural.
This voter was unimpressed by the debate and remains undecided.
I didn’t feel like the topics were discussed in depth, it was mostly candidates talking over each other.
I am really disappointed.
Personally I would rather they go into their own policies, rather than criticize others for some issue in their policies.
Personally I don’t like either of them, but if I had to choose one, I’d probably choose Harris.