Both candidates blame the other for the number one issue on American voters’ minds right now: Inflation.
Mr. Biden accused Mr. Trump of leaving him with a “terrible” economy when the moderator asked about the price burden weighing on American consumers.
Mr. Trump responded by accusing Mr. Biden of handling the Covid-19 pandemic as a “disaster” and said inflation was having a strong impact on the US.
Mr Trump blames the pandemic for devastating the economy and his re-election bid in 2020.
Theo Reuters, Voters, right now, seem to agree more with Mr. Trump than Mr. Biden, with polls showing that they support Mr. Trump on his economic policies.
Democrats are worried
Some Democrats who watched the debate expressed concern about Biden’s performance, saying he was not tough enough about his opponent’s weaknesses and not clear enough about his own vision and what he has done for the country.
During the debate, Reuters Commenting, Mr. Biden had a few moments when he seemed to lose focus when talking about the public debt situation, mistakenly saying the word “billionaire” as “thousand billionaire” before correcting himself.
Then, while debating the topic of increasing taxes for the rich, Mr. Biden seemed unable to finish his speech, pausing for a long time.”
Mr. Trump took advantage of this to attack Mr. Biden on live television.
Interests of each candidate
During the debate, the candidates emphasized the topics they thought would appeal to voters. For Mr. Biden, it was abortion rights, the state of democracy and the economy.
Meanwhile, Mr. Trump’s attention focuses on immigration, security and inflation.
Moderators Jake Tapper and Dana Bash covered these topics well, opening the debate by asking about the economy, before moving on to abortion and immigration, then touching on foreign policy and the January 2021 US Capitol riot.
According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll in June, the economy is the No. 1 concern for U.S. voters. The poll showed that voters supported Trump on economic policy more than Biden, 43% to 37%.
Republicans have a significant advantage over Democrats — 44% to 31% — on immigration. Americans favor Mr Biden over Mr Trump — 36% to 27%, respectively — on health care.