BU Experts Revisit Their June Predictions and Assess this Week’s Face-off
The June 27 face-off between President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump may have been the most consequential presidential campaign debate in history. Tonight’s showdown between Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump could eclipse it.
Amid questions about his age, Biden’s poor performance against Trump—“halting,” “rambling,” and “doddering” were among words used to describe it—led to his departure from the race soon after. A sitting president’s recusal mid-campaign was unprecedented, but Harris quickly moved to take the baton, and Democrats reacted with excitement to their new nominee. (She raised a record $81 million in the 24 hours after Biden announced he was dropping out.)
And now, with less than two months until election day, Harris and Trump will go head-to-head in a debate that, with the polls much closer than in the previous (Biden-Trump) matchup, could change undecided voters’ minds.
We asked BU experts Lauren Mattioli, a College of Arts & Sciences assistant professor of political science, and Andrew David (CAS’05, GRS’18), a College of General Studies lecturer in social science and a historian, to look back at their predictions about that first debate and to share their thoughts on this one…
To read more, visit BU Today, where this article originally appeared on September 9 2024.