Ask any of the Donald Trump fans at his Wednesday night Long Island rally whether he should debate Kamala Harris again and the the answer is unanimous: Yes.
‘I think you should go for it,’ said Andrew Peters, a 49-year-old bodyshop owner, wearing a ‘F**k Hamas’ T-shirt. ‘What’s he got to lose?’
Trump has repeatedly ruled out the idea after declaring himself the victor of last week’s televised clash.
But a J.L. Partners poll for DailyMail.com reveals that American voters are overwhelmingly in favor of seeing the two candidates pit their wits against each for a second time, including a clear majority of Trump’s own supporters.
The survey of 1000 likely voters found that 63 percent said they should meet again on the debate stage.
Only 19 percent said there was no need.
When just Republicans were taken into account, 54 percent wanted a second debate. And that grew to 59 percent of people who said they intended to vote for Trump himself in November.
Harris was widely viewed to have bested Trump in last week’s ABC debate in Philadelphia—pundits, focus groups and a DailyMail.com snap poll suggested she had managed to get under the former president’s skin.
So it is no surprise that more than 70 percent of Democrats said they would like them to go at it again.
The Harris campaign even challenged Trump to a second debate within minutes of the first ending.
But Trump quickly rebuffed her.
‘When a prizefighter loses a fight, the first words out of his mouth are “I want a rematch,’ he posted on his Truth Social platform.
James Johnson, co-founder of J.L. Partners, said it was perhaps no surprise that voters wanted to see more of the two candidates.
‘Voters think there has been more heat than light in this campaign, so it is no wonder that they want to see more of the candidates and to try and get more detail on their plans.’ he said.
Trump and Harris clashed for more than 90 minutes in the ABC News debate last Tuesday
‘Around one in 10 likely voters remain undecided, and we know from our Daily Mail post-debate poll that Independents want to know more about Harris’ agenda in particular.’
Trump was in New York on Wednesday evening, entertaining thousands of supporters in the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Long Island.
Speaking to DailyMail.com before the event started, Robert Anderson spoke for many when he said moderators in the first debate were biased against Trump.
He was in favor of a second debate if it came with guarantees, he said, and Trump was on an even playing field.
‘I think that if they had a neutral party like Fox or Newsmax … Greg Kelly as a moderator, I think everybody would welcome it,’ he said, referring to the Newsmax anchor.
‘I think that everybody sees that the first debate was so biased that I think people would be welcome to it.’
J.L. Partners polled 800 independent voters who watched last week’s debate. Voters said Kamala Harris made them feel hopeful and confident as well as annoyed
Fox News had proposed Sept 17 for a third debate, but the date came and went without any agreement.
Johnson said it was clear that Trump’s supporters wanted him to appear for another debate.
‘If he can learn from his past mistakes—dial down the rhetoric, resist falling for Harris’ taunts, and nail his opponent on the issues—he could turn things around and wipe out Harris’ unquestionable bounce from the first debate,’ he said.
‘But there’s one complication: Does anyone think Trump is actually capable of doing that? If the campaign’s judgment is that he can’t, then the best political advice may be for him to forgo a round two against Harris.’
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