Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during the Sept. 10 presidential debate with Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.Alex Brandon/The Associated Press
Republican nominee Donald Trump said on Thursday he would not participate in another presidential debate against Kamala Harris ahead of the Nov. 5 U.S. election, after several polls showed his Democratic rival won their debate earlier this week.
“THERE WILL BE NO THIRD DEBATE!” the former president wrote on social-media site Truth Social. Mr. Trump had participated in a debate with President Joe Biden in June before his debate with Ms. Harris on Tuesday.
Although Mr. Trump touted his performance on Tuesday against Ms. Harris, six Republican donors and three Trump advisers who spoke to Reuters earlier this week said they thought Ms. Harris had won the debate largely because Mr. Trump was unable to stay on message.
The debate attracted 67.1 million television viewers, according to Nielsen data.
Ms. Harris, speaking at a rally shortly after Mr. Trump’s post went live, said: “I believe we owe it to the voters to have another debate.”
While Mr. Trump said in his post that polls showed he won the debate, several surveys showed that respondents thought Ms. Harris did better.
Among voters who said they had heard at least something about Tuesday’s debate, 53 per cent said Ms. Harris won and 24 per cent said Mr. Trump won, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Thursday.
The poll showed that 54 per cent of registered voters believed that the single debate between Mr. Trump and Ms. Harris was enough, while 46 per cent had wanted a second debate.
A majority of debate watchers said Ms. Harris outperformed Mr. Trump, according to a CNN flash poll released shortly after the debate. YouGov showed 54 per cent of those surveyed said Ms. Harris won while 31 per cent said Mr. Trump was the victor.
Haitians living in Springfield, Ohio said they and others in their community fear for their safety after Republican vice-presidential nominee JD Vance spread on social media a false and derogatory claim about immigrants abducting and eating people's pets.
Reuters