Debate day is here: 5 things to watch for in the crucial confrontation between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump

PHILADELPHIA– Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump face off in what may be their only presidential debate on Tuesday, with high stakes for an event expected to be watched by millions of Americans and a significant portion of undecided voters.

LIVE BLOG: Presidential debate: Donald Trump vs. Kamala Harris

Harris’s momentum has stalled after her unusual rise when the Democratic nominee catapulted her into a neck-and-neck race, so the neck-and-neck matchup offers an opportunity to get that momentum going again if she can make a good case for her own candidacy and portray Trump as unfit for another term.

Trump, on the other hand, has struggled to find a way to attack his new opponent consistently and effectively. But he has remained highly competitive thanks to a large base of staunch supporters and a broad swath of Americans who already have strong opinions of him. Tuesday’s debate offers him an opportunity to solidify his support and paint Harris in a negative light to an electorate that has no strong opinions of her.

The ABC News debate, moderated by David Muir and Linsey Davis, will take place on Tuesday, September 10 at 9 p.m. ET. A primetime special before the debate will air at 8 p.m. ET. It will air on ABC and stream on ABC News Live, Disney+ and Hulu. Viewers can also stream the debate via the ABC app on a smartphone or tablet, on ABC.com and connected devices.

Here’s how you can watch: What you should know about the presidential debate between Harris and Trump on ABC News

Here are five things to watch for in Tuesday’s debate.

Can Trump concentrate on politics?

Trump has sought to portray Harris as a “California liberal,” interpreting voters’ perceptions of the progressive stronghold as a candidate who has served as attorney general and the state’s junior senator. He has also sharply criticized her on immigration and inflation – two voting issues on which polls show him ahead.

However, he has also made personal remarks, including falsely questioning Harris’ ethnicity (she is black and South Asian), touting his supposedly better looks, and spreading vulgar and false claims that Harris’s past romantic relationships helped her political career.

It is crucial to maintain his economic record of the past four years, which before the pandemic featured low inflation and less agitation over unauthorized border crossings, allies told ABC News.

They argued that resorting to personal attacks would be counterproductive and would distract media attention from what they saw as positive political issues.

“I think so,” said former White House press secretary Sean Spicer when asked if Trump was an effective contrast to the others on the campaign trail. “If I had to criticize anything, it would be that sometimes he makes his points, but then, with all due respect, sometimes he goes beyond them and gives the media something else to focus on.”

“He has to avoid creating a moment that takes the focus away from her record. So if it’s about her personality or her looks and not her record, that’s going to change the focus of what people are talking about the next day.”

How does Harris present herself to undecided voters?

While Trump is a household name, 28 percent of likely voters in a recent New York Times/Siena College poll said they felt they “needed to know more about Kamala Harris.” That is, while many voters have heard of Harris, in their eyes she is less defined than Trump and therefore needs to do more work to make herself known—lest she be defined by her opponents.

Harris has a dual goal with Tuesday’s debate: to present herself as a capable president and to rile Trump up, provoking a reaction that would suggest he is unworthy of another four years in the White House.

“I think there needs to be a long litany of not only trashing Donald Trump but also very clearly articulating his vision for the future,” said Bakari Sellers, a prominent Harris ally and Democratic media commentator.

Harris tried to do both on the trail.

On Monday, she fleshed out her policy proposals on a new page on her website, her most detailed statement of her platform yet. And in earlier campaign speeches, she boasted about her time as a prosecutor and attorney general battling gangs and other criminal activity. She told an audience that she knew “Donald Trump’s type,” a clear reference to his legal troubles.

The way she balances these two dictates could provide clues as to which path she and her campaign team believe is best to march to victory in November.

Will there be hot microphones?

Harris delivered a memorable debate performance in 2020 when she faced off against then-Vice President Mike Pence. Pence barged into her answers, making her declare, “I’m speaking,” in one of the night’s more viral moments.

It is unclear whether she can repeat such a moment.

While the opponent is answering a question, the candidates’ microphones are muted. Harris’ team had opposed this because they wanted to tempt Trump to interrupt her aggressively and thus appear unpresidential.

In an election campaign in which politics largely takes a back seat to personalities, such a conflict could potentially lead to one of the most notable moments of the debate.

What role will President Joe Biden play?

Harris has been performing a balancing act since the beginning of her campaign: on the one hand, she must acknowledge her role in Biden’s administration and praise its successes, while on the other hand, she must present herself as an independent candidate, especially after the unusual path she took to become her party’s nominee.

A recent poll by The New York Times and Siena College found that about 61 percent of likely voters thought the next president would represent a major change from Biden. Only 25 percent of them said Harris embodies that change, compared with 53 percent who said Trump did.

Harris has mostly appeared alone on the campaign trail, and at a joint appearance in Pittsburgh and at the Democratic National Convention last month, Biden spoke first before handing the stage over to Harris, underscoring her role in the election spotlight.

Trump, on the other hand, focused heavily on Biden at times, especially in the days and weeks after the president ended his campaign and handed the reins to Harris.

Such a strategy risks putting too much focus on Biden rather than Trump’s own opponents, but allies say linking Harris to voters’ disapproval of the current president’s handling of the economy and inflation could prove a boon.

“For the debate to be considered successful, he must continue this attack,” said a former campaign aide who is in contact with Trump’s current team. “She is the vice president of the United States and is seeking Joe Biden’s second term. We can say that.”

Is there a decisive moment that will determine the election?

The last debate between Biden and Trump clearly had consequences: It ended Biden’s campaign. But that doesn’t mean that Tuesday’s debate will have the same impact.

Certainly millions will be watching the latest shots in a race full of unpredictable twists and turns that raise the stakes. But many debates leave little more than ripples in presidential elections – an outcome that may not benefit either candidate.

Right now, it’s a neck-and-neck race. Harris wants a moment that will revive the momentum that got her into the race but has now stalled; Trump wants a moment that will wipe out some of the gains Harris has made and actually reverse her improved poll numbers.

Now it is up to the candidates to implement this.