Republican nominee Donald Trump said on Thursday that he will not engage in another presidential debate against Kamala Harris ahead of the Nov. 5 election, despite multiple surveys showing his Democratic opponent winning their debate earlier this week.
“There will be no third debate!” the former president tweeted on the social media platform Truth Social. Before facing Harris on Tuesday, Trump debated President Joe Biden in June.
Although Trump praised his performance against Harris on Tuesday, six Republican contributors and three Trump advisors told Reuters earlier this week that they believed Harris won the debate mostly because Trump was unable to remain on script.
Nielsen figures show that the debate drew 67.1 million television viewers.
Harris, speaking at a rally shortly after Trump’s post went live, said: “I believe we owe it to the voters to have another debate.”
While Trump said in his post that polls showed he won the debate, several surveys showed that respondents thought Harris did better.
Among voters who said they had heard at least something about Tuesday’s debate, 53% said Harris won and 24% said Trump won, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Thursday.
The poll showed that 54% of registered voters believed that the single debate between Trump and Harris was enough, while 46% had wanted a second debate.
A majority of debate watchers said Harris outperformed Trump, according to a CNN flash poll released shortly after the debate. YouGov showed 54% of those surveyed said Harris won while 31% said Trump was the victor.
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Source: Reuters
