Current:Home > NewsJohnathan Walker:To pumped-up Democrats, Harris was everything Biden was not in confronting Trump in debate -CoinMarket
Johnathan Walker:To pumped-up Democrats, Harris was everything Biden was not in confronting Trump in debate
PredictIQ Quantitative Think Tank Center View
Date:2025-04-09 07:52:12
WASHINGTON (AP) — To many Democrats,Johnathan Walker Kamala Harris was everything Joe Biden was not in confronting Donald Trump on the debate stage: forceful, fleet of foot, relentless in going after her opponent.
In a pivot from Biden’s debate meltdown in June, Democrats who gathered in bars, watch parties and other venues Tuesday night found lots to cheer in her drive to rattle the Republican.
In a race for the White House that surveys say is exceptionally close, with both sides looking for an edge, it was the Democrats who came away more exuberant after the nationally televised debate.
“She prosecuted Donald Trump tonight,” said Alina Taylor, 51, a high school special education teacher who joined hundreds of people on a football field of the historically Black Salem Baptist Church of Abington in a suburb of Philadelphia, where people watched on a 33-foot (10 meter) screen.
As for Trump, she said, “I was appalled” by his performance. “People were laughing at him because he wasn’t making very much sense.”
In Seattle, people gathered at Massive, a queer nightclub where scores watched the debate on a projector set up in front of the club’s large disco ball. The crowd laughed and cheered when Trump branded Harris a Marxist. More cheers when the debate moderator called out Trump’s false claim that some states legalize the killing of babies after birth.
“He’s getting smoked,” one said.
But in Brentwood, Tennessee, Sarah Frances Morris heard nothing at her watch party to shake her support of Trump.
“I think he beat her on the border,” she said. “I think he also beat her on actually having plans and letting the American people know what those are. And I think that Kamala Harris likes to mention that she has plans for things, but she doesn’t actually ever elaborate on what those plans are.”
Morris conceded she was watching history being made, “because we have our first Black woman running for president.” But, she added, “I don’t think she delivered to get her to that place she needed to be.”
Harris supporter Dushant Puri, 19, a UC Berkeley student, said the vice president took command before the first words were spoken — when she crossed the stage to shake Trump’s hand. “I thought that was pretty significant,” Puri said. “It was their first interaction, and I thought Harris was asserting herself.”
At the same watch party, fellow student Angel Aldaco, 21, said that unlike Biden, Harris “came in with a plan and was more concise.”
Aldaco was struck by one of the night’s oddest moments, when Trump “went on that rampage about eating pets.” That’s when Trump endorsed a baseless conspiracy theory that immigrants were stealing and eating people’s dogs ands cats. Harris was incredulous. “That was good,” the student said.
It’s questionable how much viewers learned about what Harris would do as president or whether she won over independents or wavering Republicans. But for some Democrats, despondent if not panicked after Biden’s fumbling debate performance, it was enough to see a Democratic candidate getting seriously under Trump’s skin.
“He is pretty incapable when he is riled up,” said Ikenna Amilo, an accountant at a Democratic watch party in a small concert venue in downtown Portland, Maine.
What to know about the 2024 Election
- Today’s news: Follow live updates from the campaign trail from the AP.
- Ground Game: Sign up for AP’s weekly politics newsletter to get it in your inbox every Monday.
- AP’s Role: The Associated Press is the most trusted source of information on election night, with a history of accuracy dating to 1848. Learn more.
“When you poke him, he is really reactive and he doesn’t show the temperament you want in a president, so I think Kamala has shown she’s doing a good job.”
Annetta Clark, 50, a Harris supporter from Vallejo, California, watched at a party hosted by the Oakland Bay Area chapter of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women. To her, the second presidential debate was a mighty relief from the one in June.
“I couldn’t stomach the first one, if I’m being honest,” Clark said. “I tried to watch it and it was a little too much. This one I was able to enjoy.” On Trump’s performance: “It was almost like talking to a child with him.” Harris? “Fabulous job.”
Democrat Natasha Salas, 63, of Highland, Indiana, saw the debate from an Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority watch party at a bistro in Markham, Illinois, and welcomed Harris’ call to cool the political temperature — even as the vice president denounced Trump at every turn.
“We all want the same things, Democrats and Republicans,” Salas said. “We are more alike than different. I want to see the country move forward and less divisiveness.”
Interest in the debate transcended national borders. From a shelter for migrants in Tijuana, Mexico, where dozens watched a translated version of the debates on a television, Rakan al Muhana, 40, an asylum-seeker from Gaza, became animated when the candidates discussed Israel and Palestine.
“We are running from the war,” he said. “We are running from the Israeli bombs. He (Trump) doesn’t see us as human. My daughter, who is four months — for him, she’s a terrorist.”
Al Muhana has been on a four-month journey from Gaza to this border city, with his wife and four children. They left when both his mother and father were killed in a bombing.
___
Associated Press journalists Michael Rubinkam in Philadelphia; George Walker in Nashville; Robert Bukaty in Portland, Maine; Lindsey Wasson in Seattle; Godofredo Vasquez in Berkeley, California; and Gregory Bull in Tijuana, Mexico, contributed to this report.
veryGood! (25)
Related
- The Louvre will be renovated and the 'Mona Lisa' will have her own room
- Da'Vine Joy Randolph's Emotional 2024 Oscars Speech Will Make You Tear Up
- Have you ever been called someone's 'moot'? The social media slang's meaning, unpacked
- Why Christina Applegate Is “Kind of in Hell” Amid Battle With Multiple Sclerosis
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Triathlon
- Former Uvalde mayor is surprised a new report defends how police responded to school shooting
- Emma Stone Makes the Rarest of Comments About Her Daughter as She Accepts 2024 Best Actress Oscar Win
- Full transcript of Face the Nation, March 10, 2024
- Jamie Foxx reps say actor was hit in face by a glass at birthday dinner, needed stitches
- Schools are hiring more teachers than ever. So why aren't there enough of them?
Ranking
- Louvre will undergo expansion and restoration project, Macron says
- How a Chinese citizen allegedly absconded with a trove of Google's confidential AI files
- Emma Stone was crying, locked out of Oscars during 3 major wins: What you didn't see on TV
- The 2024 Oscars were worse than bad. They were boring.
- EU countries double down on a halt to Syrian asylum claims but will not yet send people back
- Sen. Bob Menendez enters not guilty plea to latest criminal indictment
- Kate Middleton Breaks Silence on Edited Family Photo Controversy
- See Sofía Vergara, Heidi Klum and More Stars' Show-Stopping Arrivals at the 2024 Oscars After-Parties
Recommendation
Grammy nominee Teddy Swims on love, growth and embracing change
Iowa vs. Nebraska highlights: Caitlin Clark rallies Hawkeyes for third straight Big Ten title
Georgia readies to resume executions after a 4-year pause brought by COVID and a legal agreement
Meg Ryan Stuns in Rare Red Carpet Moment at Vanity Fair 2024 Oscars After-Party
Apple iOS 18.2: What to know about top features, including Genmoji, AI updates
See Emma Stone, Margot Robbie and More Stars' Fashion Transformations for Oscars 2024 After-Parties
Marcia Gay Harden on a role you may not know: herself
Vanessa Hudgens is pregnant, revealing baby bump at Oscars