(Elyse Apel, The Center Square) Former President Donald Trump said Thursday afternoon that he has agreed to three debates, all happening in September.
He said his campaign team is awaiting confirmation from Vice President Kamala Harris on the dates and then they will come to an agreement on other details.
The first debate would be hosted by Fox News on Wednesday, Sept. 4, the second on NBC on Tuesday, Sept. 10, and the last on ABC on Wednesday, Sept. 25.
In Trump’s first press conference since the announcement of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz joining Harris on the Democrats’ ticket, he denounced the opponents’ policies on immigration, abortion and foreign policy.
“I think that our county is right now at the most dangerous position it has ever been from an economic standpoint, from a safety standpoint,” Trump said.
Inflation will be a critical issue for voters as they decide who to vote for, Trump said. Consensus polling of voters’ main influence is some combination of the economy and inflation. Abortion and immigration have run in varying orders of second and third.
“Kamala’s record is horrible,” Trump said pointing to her role in the Biden administration for border security, and her time as a prosecutor before becoming a U.S. senator. “She is a radical left person at a level that nobody’s seen. There’s never been a combination more progressive.”
Trump also called Walz a “radical left” politician and called out Harris for refusing to speak with the press since President Joe Biden dropped out in July.
Whereas Trump was leading polls against Biden, Harris has enjoyed a honeymoon coming out period that began 107 days before Election Day. Both have had leads in polls.
For example, The Telegraph sponsors the Redfield & Wilton polls that regularly monitor the battleground states. In the most recent conducted July 31 through Saturday, Trump has leads of 44%-41% in North Carolina, 46%-44% in Pennsylvania, 46%-44% in Georgia, and 42%-41% in Michigan, with Harris leading 44%-43% in Arizona and the candidates tied in Wisconsin (43%) and Nevada (40%).
In the highly respected Marquette Law School Poll released Thursday, Harris leads 52%-48% for registered voters sampled July 24-Aug. 1. In Marquette’s May poll, Trump led Biden 51%-49%.
Trump says voters want a return to “common sense.”
“We want a safe country,” he said. “We want to have a strong military. We want to have low interest rates and we want to have the American dream.”
Trump said that he hopes Harris will agree to the debates.
“I just look forward to these debates,” he said. “I think it’s very important that we have them . . . and I think they will be very revealing.”
