
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Following the debate between President Trump and Vice President Harris, Democrats and the left-leaning media went into gushing hyperbole. ; They not only declared Harris the run-away winner but said that Trump had been crushed &#8212; defeated. ; CNN’s Chirs Wallace declared Trump’s performance as worse than Biden’s in the debate that forced then President out of the race.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">We saw that same giddy demeanor during the Democrat National Convention. ; Despite all the hoopla and the high praise coming from the crony press, Harris did not get the anticipated “bump” from the convention. ; In fact, Harris’ small lead in the polls began to shrink in some cases.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Based on the claims of the Democrat leadership – including Harris’ own claim – and the judgment and reporting from the biased media, the Vice President was the overwhelming winner in the Harris/Trump debate. ; Some Democrats and pundits even declared the debate to have been a fatal blow to the Trump campaign.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">It is true that Trump was not at the top of his game in that debate. ; He could have done better – much better. ; He was further compromised by some of the most biased moderating I have ever witnessed. ; That means every debate since Nixon versus Kennedy. ;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">It is also true that Harris performed well – aided by biased moderating and her refusal to answer questions. ; She stayed on script.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In my post-debate commentary, I offered several observations. ; I gave both participants a “C” for their performance – style and substance. ; I predicted that when the post-debate results were in – within a week or so of the debate &#8212; there would be virtually no change in voter preferences. ; I called it a draw.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">An ABC/Ipsos poll showed that 63 percent of Americans thought Harris won the debate. ; But those are not the important numbers. ; They are overly influenced by all the partisan media spin immediately following the debate. ; The important numbers come in the polls in in the week or so after the debate – when the dust begins to ; settle.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Weeell &#8230; MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough reported the more recent results of the ABC/Ipsos poll.  ;I found the results as interesting as Scarborough found them disappointing. ; Prior to the debate, the ABC poll showed Harris with a 52 to 46 percent lead over Trump. ; After the debate, the same poll showed Harris with a 52 to 46 percent lead over Trump. ; No change at all. ;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">There will be other polls and both sides will call them good news. ; ; What can be said at this time is that Harris did NOT get a bump from the debate. ; All that partisan paise was for naught.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">I never saw Harris as the winner – and said so at the time. ; Since the entire purpose of a political debate is to improve a candidate’s support among voters, they determine the winner. ; Not the politicians, the pundits or the press.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Harris did not win that debate &#8230; period. ; All the partisan hyperbolic praise was just that. ; According to the polls &#8212; the voters – there was no winner coming out of the debate – and no amount of partisan cheerleading can change that.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In a sense, all that praise heaped on Harris may have given a bit of an edge to Trump. ; It created an expectation of a significant bump for Harris that did not happen. ; She fell short of expectations and the hype.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">As I have cautioned in the past, the polls are very close and have been regularly changing within the margin of error &#8212; and will continue to do so for the time being. ; There may be a surge by one candidate over the other at some point, but that has not yet happened. ; Despite the predictions and Harris hype, it did not happen after the Democrat convention, and it did not happen after the debate.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Unless there is another debate, there is nothing on the schedule that can be seen as a game changer. ;  ;It is all up to the trend lines, current and historic – specifically those in the battleground states. ; That gives Trump an ever so slight edge among the pundits and the bettors.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">So, there ‘tis.</p>

So, who really won the debate?
