A YouGov survey has shown the most popular topics Democrats and Republicans want Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump to discuss in the debate on September 10.
The survey conducted from August 29 through September 1 asked 1,082 Americans what they wanted to hear about in the upcoming presidential debate. This chart shows their response.
For Democrats, the number one topic of voter interest was healthcare, at 68 percent, while for Republicans, it was inflation, at 74 percent. These areas of interest directly correlate with the topics each party’s candidate is seen as strongest on, as Newsweek previously reported.
Respondents who identified as Democrats also indicated that their top voter interests included abortion, social security, inflation, and democracy.
Republican respondents indicated that their top voter issues, in addition to inflation, were border security, social security, taxes, national debt, and housing costs.
For all Republican, Democrat, and Independent respondents, the top four issues were inflation, healthcare, border security, and social security.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaking during the presidential debate with President Joe Biden on CNN on June 27 in Atlanta, Georgia. Trump will participate in the presidential debate against Vice President Kamala Harris on September 10 on ABC.
ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/Getty Images
The Republican presidential candidate has repeatedly criticized Harris’ border security policies and referred to her as a “border czar.”
A recent by ABC News and Ipsos found that Trump has more voter trust to handle the economy and the border also found that more voters feel Harris is the better candidate to handle health care and abortion.
Respondents appeared to be less interested in hearing about democracy, corruption, Israel, and guns, as less than 40% reported showing interest.
Topics that respondents appear to be the least interested in hearing discussed on the debate stage include education, climate change, racism, criminal allegations against them, China, their mental fitness, and their ages.
YouGov’s survey also found that the majority of respondents have more faith in Harris to out-debate Trump than they did in Biden, at 45 percent.
In comparing their debate styles, respondents felt that Harris’ strengths include her ability to stay calm under pressure and her knowledge of policy issues.
Survey respondents reported that they believed Trump is more likely to go over the allotted time, make personal attacks, interrupt his opponent, and be physically intimidating.
Respondents were tied when reporting who they thought was the better debater, at 41%.
American interest in the presidential debate has been waning since 2016, as The Washington Post found that viewership, in terms of percentage of the population, had declined, with 51.3 million tuned in to watch Biden and Trump’s debate this summer.
Newsweek reached out to Trump and Harris’ campaigns for comment via email.
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