Predictions on Tuesday night’s debate as Harris, Trump gear up to meet face-to-face for 1st time

COLUMBIA, SC (WOLO) — Vice President Kamala Harris and Former President Donald Trump will take the stage tonight for what will be the first — and potentially only — presidential debate this election season.

Hosted by ABC News, the 90-minute debate will take place at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.

Vice President Harris and Former President Trump will have two minutes to answer each question and two minutes for a rebuttal.

And as with the previous debate between President Biden and Trump, a candidate’s mic will be muted when it’s not their turn to speak, and there will be no live audience.

USC Political Science Professor Kirk Randazzo says winning tonight’s debate will come down to each candidate’s ability to discuss policy and substantive issues.

“For Harris, she probably has an advantage on the one hand because she’s much more versed in those policy debates, but she’s gonna have to be careful about maybe looking a little defensive.  For Trump, he’s gonna be slightly disadvantaged because he doesn’t really talk policy at any of his rallies, and he’s gonna have to be very very careful at lobbying personal attacks which is what he’s been doing for the last couple of weeks,” he says.

But when it comes to the ongoing war in Gaza, Randazzo believes Trump will have the upper hand.

“That has not gotten any better,” he says, regarding ceasefire negotiations.

Also in Trump’s favor according to Randazzo? Inflation and the economy.

“People are still paying more money for groceries, and that is something that the Biden/Harris Administration just has not been able to sufficiently bring down prices yet. We’re trending in the right direction but it’s still pretty high,” he says.

Randazzo says Trump should steer clear of past comments , like when he called Hillary Clinton a “nasty woman” during the presidential debate of 2016.

“And I would say that on the heels of JD Vance’s comments on the ‘childless cat ladies.’ There’s been a lot of sexist and misogynistic language already coming out from the trump campaign, not to mention the substantive issue of abortion that has already galvanized women across America,” he says.

And Harris, he believes, will be more successful pointing out litigated cases against Trump.

“I think she’s got the opportunity to do so in terms of the felony convictions, the liability on sexual abuse and harassment, on the fact that his company can no longer do business in New York…” he says.

As polls remain tight, Randazzo believes a good debate showing for Trump may not increase his numbers, but will prevent the polls from continuing to move in Harris’ favor.

And if it’s a good night for Harris?

“It might be enough to kind of push her out of that statistical equivalence beyond the margin of errors that we see in polls,” he says.

You can watch tonight’s debate live — right here on ABC Columbia at nine p.m.