Every four years, tens of millions of Americans vote to choose their president. But, thanks to the electoral college, not all votes are equal. It’s possible to receive more popular votes than your opponent and still lose the election (it’s happened five times).
When presidential campaigns begin, candidates form their teams and start hitting the campaign trail. They also begin preparing for televised debates. These are opportunities for candidates to show off their skills in front of large audiences and address questions that voters might have about their policies.
For the most part, though, debates don’t make or break a candidate’s chances of winning. Hillary Clinton, for example, saw a bump in her poll numbers after her first debate against Donald Trump but that didn’t change the fundamental dynamics of the race.
In June 2024, Biden’s poor performance in a nationally televised debate with Trump made some prominent Democrats concerned that he would lose to Trump and led them to call for him to withdraw from the race. In July, he did so and endorsed Harris as his replacement.
Unlike Biden, Harris has the advantage of being well-known to American voters. But she faces the challenge of overcoming voters’ lack of familiarity with her, especially in battleground states where she and Trump are competing for support. In her first debate against Trump, she sought to fill in that gap by defining herself as a lifelong progressive and highlighting her work as a prosecutor.