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The next televised debate is scheduled for the US election campaign on Thursday night. This time, incumbent Vice President Mike Pence and Kamala Harris, running alongside Democrat Joe Biden, are fighting. American expert Sarah Wagner hopes for a civilized debate.
SRF News: Will the television debate be more factual than last week’s showdown between the two presidential candidates?
Sarah Wagner: I hope it’s a real debate and not a show like last time. And I hope we really have an interesting and valuable exchange between the two candidates.
Biden and Trump spoke primarily about the crisis in the crown, the economy and the Supreme Court. Will Pence and Harris do the same?
These problems will also play a role. But what really dominates are current developments; the pandemic, the president’s illness. It’s good for Democrats if the focus is on crisis management. Because Pence is the head of the White House Corona task force.
There was a lot of pressure to discuss the candidates’ attitudes towards the LGBTQ community.
At the same time, it will also be interesting to see if new topics are discussed. For example, there was a lot of pressure from interest groups to discuss candidates’ attitudes towards the LGBTQ community.
Harris was initially a presidential candidate and had participated in the televised debates of the Democrats. Pence’s last debate was four years ago. Are you out of practice?
Harris looked great in the primaries. She doesn’t have to work from scratch like Pence. However, she must handle the balancing act of launching one-off attacks on the president’s crisis management without going personal in light of her condition.
I would not underestimate Pence, because it is also an advantage that his expectations are lower today. If we look at the 2016 debate, Pence did very well back then. He didn’t really get into the attacks on Trump, but he tried time and again to emphasize what he saw as the positives of the election campaign program. He also doesn’t get angry as easily as Trump.
More than three million Americans have already voted.
The television duel between Pence and Harris is highly anticipated. How is that?
The debate between vice presidential candidates tends to arouse little interest. But we have a very unusual situation this year. We have two presidential candidates who are over 70 years old. One of them is sick with Covid-19. This means that the chance that Harris or Pence will have to take over the office in the next few years is considered relatively high. The pressure on both is high and they are expected to appear serious.
Does that mean this duel is more important than it has been for a long time?
Yes and no. Yes, it is important because we have this extraordinary context. In other words, the chances are simply greater that one of the vice presidential candidates may also take office. At the same time, however, the race so far has remained stable in the polls and is accompanied by many other developments, making it impossible to assess the impact this debate will ultimately have. More than three million Americans have already voted. And relatively few are undecided. Therefore, this debate will probably not be decisive for the election.
Interview by Manuel Ramirez.
“Kamala Harris got a good figure in the primaries,” says political scientist Sarah Wagner.
Keystone
