Harris and Trump's first debate showdown: What to watch

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

47% : Harris ran more to the left during the Democratic primaries five years ago but has since taken more moderate positions as she has sought to unify the party and appeal to Republicans and independents disaffected with Trump.
43% : But she will still have to contend with an experienced debater in Trump, who is known for a confrontational style that he displayed onstage in 2016 and 2020.
33% : Trump has sought to brand Harris as a far-left candidate, calling her "Comrade Kamala" and tying her to some of the positions she took back in 2019.
33% : This stemmed from the aftermath of the 2020 debate in which Trump repeatedly interrupted Biden and moderator Chris Wallace.
28% : GOP pundits and allies of Trump have called on him to focus more on policy attacks on Harris rather than personal ones, but whether he can stick to that remains to be seen.
27% : She will also have to decide how best to address the many false claims Trump is likely to make during the debate as he frequently does.
27% : That was most clearly demonstrated in the aftermath of the June debate between Biden and Trump.
25% : While expectations were not particularly high for Biden heading into the June debate, he still fell flat as he struggled to push back against Trump and make coherent statements.
24% : "But she will likely be put on defense if Trump seeks to define her as too liberal.
19% : The contest has already turned nasty, with Trump often resorting to personal attacks against Harris, even after calls to tone down the angry rhetoric in the wake of the assassination attempt against the former president.
18% : Trump engaged in arguably one of the most influential debates in U.S. history in June against President Biden, which triggered a series of events leading to Biden dropping out of the race and Harris's ascension to the Democratic nomination.
18% : Trump has used inflammatory language criticizing Harris's intelligence and background.
17% : A major stumble by either Harris or Trump could have a ripple effect that could change the course of the race less than two months out from Election Day.

*Our bias meter rating uses data science including sentiment analysis, machine learning and our proprietary algorithm for determining biases in news articles. Bias scores are on a scale of -100% to 100% with higher negative scores being more liberal and higher positive scores being more conservative, and 0% being neutral. The rating is an independent analysis and is not affiliated nor sponsored by the news source or any other organization.