Live Updates: Presidential Debate Anticipation Builds as Tim Walz Hits NV

The ‘inevitable’ close election

Dan Pfeiffer, political advisor, said in one poll on the presidential election does not mean everything – normally.

“I rarely write about one specific poll—especially a horserace poll,” Pfeiffer wrote. “The New York Times/Siena poll is the exception”

The New York Times / Siena poll “carries unparalleled weight in shaping the political conversation,” Pfeiffer said. The poll, released Sunday, is based on 1,695 voters nationwide from Sept. 3 to 6. Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are “neck and neck.”

Pfeiffer said a “close race is practically an inevitability.”

“The margin in 2016 was around 70,000 votes, and in 2020, it was even narrower,” Pfeiffer said. “We remain a deeply polarized and closely divided nation.”

–Monica Sager

Walz hits the campaign trail ahead of debate

On Monday and Tuesday, Gov. Tim Walz will travel to Texas, Nevada and Arizona for a series of political events. This will be his first solo travel to the Sun Belt since become Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate.

Walz is set to deliver remarks in Reno, Nevada at 5:30 p.m. Monday. Tuesday he will join political engagements in Phoenix, Arizona and then later deliver remarks at 5:30 p.m.

–Monica Sager

3 Ways Kamala Harris Can Beat Donald Trump in Their First Debate

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump will go head-to-head in her first presidential debate on Tuesday, which will be broadcast on ABC News.

After Trump faced her predecessor, Joe Biden, in June, many viewers declared Trump the winner, and the narrative that Biden was too old to serve another term took hold, affecting his chances of beating Trump.

It’s now down to Harris to make sure the next debate doesn’t also serve as a detriment to her party’s success. Experts have suggested that the two candidates’ clashing debate style could create a heated atmosphere on the ABC News stage.

Read more from Jasmine Laws

Trump Gets Warning from Megyn Kelly Ahead of Debate

Megyn Kelly talked to the RealClearPolitics hosts on The Megyn Kelly Show about the Kamala Harris campaign and the upcoming Tuesday debate.

Kelly stated, according to an NBC News report, Harris is being coached for the upcoming debate.

“She is being coached to avoid being pulled onto Trump’s personal attacks by remaining calm, she and her team are focusing on how to needle Trump and rattle him. It’s going to be less about substance and more about showcasing Harris as a woman who is not scared,” Kelly read the report.

The podcast host joked that people seem to want a president who is a woman and unafraid of Trump. RealClearPolitics host Carl Cannon chimed in, pointing out that Kelly is a woman and is not afraid of Trump, questioning if that too qualifies her for the presidency.

Kelly also suggested that Harris will likely portray herself as a victim during the debate, leveraging her gender. The gender divide between male and female candidates is expected to be prominent.

“Trump has to be careful,” Kelly said. “He can’t do anything aggressive even though she’ll be aggressive against him.”

Cannon said Harris faces a high standard because she has avoided press interactions and challenges, aside from the CNN interview.

–Courtney McGinley

Nancy Pelosi Stops by ‘The View’ Today

Tulsi Gabbard Says Trump is ‘Looking Forward’ to Kamala Harris Debate

Former U.S. Army Colonel and conservative political commentator Tulsi Gabbard said Kamala Harris’s debating skills “should not be underestimated,” but believes the former president will be able to target her record as vice president.

The two candidates are set to square off on Tuesday evening, in what many think could be the only presidential debate before voters head to the polls in November.

“He is looking forward to this debate and he is looking forward to focusing on Kamala Harris’s record,” Gabbard told Fox News on Monday morning.

Gabbard, who ran against Harris in the 2020 Democratic Primaries, called the vice president “a politician in the worst sense of the word,” and cast doubt on her ability to defeat Trump on the ABC stage.

“I think he did a fantastic job in his debate against Joe Biden,” Gabbard said. “Clearly, the results speak for themselves, and he will do the same in this debate with Kamala Harris.”

She warned that Harris “should not be underestimated,” and cited reports that the vice president has been engaged in extensive preparations prior to the encounter.

“She’s taking this debate seriously. She will come prepared with memorized lines, ready to recite and deliver them in what I think will be a very effective way.”

However, Gabbard said that Trump “hasn’t been doing that because he doesn’t need to do it,” and that the former president will be eager to attack Harris’s record over the past few years.

“President Trump looks forward to making sure the American people remember what she has done over these last three and a half years and how she had the opportunity to fix what’s broken but she’s the one responsible for breaking it. He will come in as president and actually begin to fix those problems and get us back on track again.”

–Hugh Cameron

Kellyanne Conway Says Kamala Harris Only Appeals to Women ‘From the Waist Down’

Former White House staffer Kellyanne Conway claims Kamala Harris is struggling to win over both male and female voters, and believes Donald Trump can drum up the necessary support from women by focusing on the economy, immigration and international issues.

“The gender gap is too much being talked about with respect to abortion because we women, like every voting cohort, are not monolithic,” Conway said in a Sunday night Fox news interview with Trey Gowdy. “I like to think from my waist up, not just my waist down, which is where Democrats are trying to appeal to me.”

While the latest The New York Times-Siena College poll showed Trump holding a one point lead over Kamala Harris – 48 percent to 47 percent – Conway acknowledged that the former president, like Republican candidates historically, is failing to win over female voters.

“The gender gap has been a challenge for Republican candidates among women for many decades,” Conway said. “But with Donald Trump there are two gender gaps now. And its Kamala Harris and the Democrats’ problem with men.”

“Kamala Harris has a very difficult time attracting male voters to her flip-flopping, to her radical agenda, to her lack of assuring them that they will be more prosperous, there will be more opportunities, we’ll all be more secure under a Harris administration.”

Conway also argued that Trump’s best line of attack would be to focus on the issues of inflation, border security, as well as the threat of “nuclear devastation” posed by Iran, which she believes will resonate with American men and women alike.

According to Sunday’s NYT-Siena poll, 21 percent of those surveyed listed the economy as the key issue deciding their vote in November, followed by abortion at 14 percent and immigration at 12 percent.

Despite Trump’s three Supreme Court appointments casting deciding votes in overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022, and the former president taking credit for “killing” the constitutional right to abortion, Conway nevertheless argued that the female vote would be decided by issues beyond reproductive rights.

Conway said: “[Women] don’t think plumbers and pipefitters should pay for the student loans of doctors and lawyers. They don’t think men should be in their girls’ sports. They don’t think that 10 million illegals coming here on Harris’ watch is fair. They see them on the television getting cash and cell phones and clothing and hotel rooms, and they say that’s not fair.”

–Hugh Cameron