Former U.S. President and Republican nominee, Donald Trump, has announced that he will not participate in any further presidential debates against his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, as the November election approaches.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump declared, “There will be no third debate!”.
This decision follows a heated first encounter between the two candidates, where Trump reportedly struggled to control his temper while Harris raised several critical issues.
Reacting to the debate on social media, Trump accused ABC Network moderators of bias, claiming they worked against him.
Despite his insistence that polls favored him, surveys indicated that Harris outperformed him.
At a rally shortly after Trump’s post went viral, Harris responded, saying, “I believe we owe it to the voters to have another debate.”
Surveys conducted after the debate tell a different story from Trump’s claims.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Thursday showed that 53% of voters believed Harris won the debate, compared to 24% for Trump.
Additionally, 54% of registered voters felt that one debate was sufficient, while 46% expressed a desire for a second debate.
CNN’s flash poll released immediately after the debate also revealed that a majority of viewers thought Harris outperformed Trump during their exchange.
According to Nielsen data, the debate attracted an audience of 67.1 million television viewers.
Despite Trump’s claims of victory, internal discussions within the Republican camp suggest a different view.
Six Republican donors and three Trump advisers, speaking to Reuters, acknowledged that Harris had the upper hand, pointing to Trump’s difficulty staying on message during the debate.
