Renowned pollster and strategist Frank Luntz said Monday that the first presidential debate between Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris "is everything" for the voters.
Luntz made the comments during an interview with CNN, eight days before the debate in Philadelphia and 64 days before November's general election.
"[T]he debate is everything. Everything. When the voters see side-by-side the two candidates and they listen to what they say, not just in the answers, it's the body language," Luntz said. "Is there contempt? Does someone fold their arms? Do they look at the individual when they're speaking? Do they seem presidential in their approach?"
The debate is Sept. 10 on ABC News.
"For Trump: Can he keep quiet? Can he actually listen to a response or does he have to respond to everything?" Luntz said. "For Harris: Does she seem open-minded? Does she seem willing to take in information, not just project? Each one of them has different goals for that debate, but each one, in the end, has to prove that they're ready, not just for that moment, but voters are thinking, 'Who do I want to represent me two years from now, three or four years from now?'"
While Harris has to prove she's capable, Luntz said Trump "has to prove that he doesn't treat her rudely, obnoxiously," adding that he "lost a lot of female voters in 2020" in his loss to President Joe Biden.
Further, Luntz expressed doubt that Trump will be able to "lay off" attacking Harris and ask questions "plainly" that could expose Harris' weaknesses. Luntz said former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie told Trump in 2020 to "chill out" in his debates against Biden and let the then-vice president "hurt himself."
"And Trump couldn't do it, he couldn't lay off. He just had to go," Luntz said. "And if I was advising the campaign right now, which I do not, I'd say to him that silence, in some cases, is the best language. That's silence, because he has questions that he can ask that she can't answer.
"Why did inflation get so high under your administration? What exactly are you going to do if your policies caused it? What can you do to solve it? And most importantly, are you better off today than you were four years ago?" Luntz added. "It's not my question, that was Ronald Reagan's question. If he [Trump] asked that question plainly, he will be successful. I don't believe he has the ability to do so."
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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