Nolte: Pundits Say Kamala Harris Won Debate, but Undecided Voters Looking for Policy Specifics Disagree
The far-left New York Times caught up with undecided voters across five states and discovered that they were not persuaded by media pundits who overwhelmingly believe sitting Vice President Kamala Harris won Tuesday night’s presidential debate.
According to these voters, the biggest problem was Kamala’s lack of specific policy proposals, an issue that has haunted her ever since her successful coup against President Joe Biden in July.
“Bob and Sharon Reed, both 77-year-old retired teachers who live on a farm in central Pennsylvania, had high hopes for the debate,” reports the Times. Both assumed the debate would make up their minds. It did not. “It was all disappointing,” Sharon said. The “couple ended the night wondering how the costly programs each candidate supported [would be paid for and] didn’t hear detailed answers on immigration or foreign policy[.]”
These undecided voters also complained that Kamala “did not seem much different from Mr. Biden, and they wanted change.”
“She didn’t, kind of, separate herself” from Biden, a Wisconsin undecided voter told the Times. Although she did like what Harris said about “Mr. Trump’s role in the riot on Jan. 6,” she also “wanted to hear more specific policy proposals, especially as they compare to Mr. Biden’s record.”
A 19-year-old Milwaukee college student said she was impressed with Kamala, but, once again, the lack of policy failed to close the deal. This student recently got her own place, and the cost of housing and food has her worried. “She still has to impress me,” the student said of Kamala. “I’m still deciding.”
Out of the whole group, Trump appeared to pick up two votes to Kamala’s one.
“Trump’s pitch was a little more convincing than hers,” a North Carolina woman told the Times. “I guess I’m leaning more on his facts than her vision.”
“When Trump was in office — not going to lie — I was living way better,” she added. “I’ve never been so down as in the past four years. It’s been so hard for me.”
“Trump had the more commanding presentation,” an undecided Arizona voter said. “There was nothing done by Harris that made me think she’s better. In any way.” He also said that Trump “came off as crazy,” but that is who Trump has always been “at rallies and in interviews.”
Undecided voters are faced with two very flawed candidates. Although he had some good moments, Trump was at his worst on Tuesday night: peevish, pedantic, and petty. It felt like he couldn’t put a cohesive thought or argument together. At the same time, though, Kamala was evasive, a little smug, dishonest, and seemed terrified to lay out any kind of policy proposal beyond platitudes about “lifting up the middle class and working people of America.”
She’s had nearly four years to do that as vice president. If only Trump had said that earlier, instead of waiting until his closing statement.
Across the media spectrum, the response from undecided voters is fairly uniform. Even if they believe Harris won the debate, her lack of specifics and her claim to have a vision without explaining that vision are keeping them on the fence or making them lean toward Trump.
John Nolte’s first and last novel, Borrowed Time, is winning five-star raves from everyday readers. You can read an excerpt here and an in-depth review here. Also available in hardcover and on Kindle and Audiobook.
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