Senator Kamala Harris and Vice President Mike Pence participated in the only vice presidential debate of the 2020 U.S. General Election.
Republican Mike Pence and Democrat Kamala Harris sat for their only vice presidential debate on Wednesday night where the coronavirus response took up most of the discussion, with Ms. Harris labeling the Trump administration's response as the "greatest failure of any presidential administration," while Mr. Pence said Biden's plan "looks a bit like plagiarism."
The event was civil compared to the insult-ladened shouting match between President Trump and candidate Joe Biden, but the differences were sharp, with Mr. Pence painting Ms. Harris and the former vice president as veering far left of the party, saying Democrats would undo through higher taxes economic prosperity hard-won under the current administration. Harris said Biden would not raise taxes on anyone making less than $400,000 a year, and that Trump was taking credit for an economic boom that started during the Obama administration through policies implemented by the former president.
Even so, the coronavirus pandemic continued to be the biggest talk of the night. President Trump and many in his White House circle have contracted the disease, sending campaign plans, along with Republicans' effort to appoint a Supreme Court nominee ahead of the election into disarray. A number of attendees of an event at the White House Rose Garden for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett late last month, have since tested positive for Covid-19. Ms. Harris pointed to what she deemed the president's cavalier attitude and lack of a plan as the reason the virus has killed over 200,000 Americans.
Mr. Pence countered by stating that the president moved quickly when the virus was initially discovered to halt travel to and from China, where Covid-19 originated. At the time, Mr. Biden opposed the halting of China flights, Pence said.
The United States has more confirmed Covid-19 deaths than anywhere else in the world. The country, the most powerful in the world, has more than 7.5 million confirmed infections, with the U.S. accounting for close to a fifth of the 36 million cases reportedly globally.
According to a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll published on Sunday, Mr. Biden leads the president 53 percent to 39 percent among registered voters. The poll was conducted after the first debate but before Mr. Trump’s Covid-19 diagnosis, and shows Mr. Biden expanding his lead with women voters and the president losing support among white, working-class voters and other groups. Several surveys of states Mr. Trump won in 2016, including Pennsylvania, in recent days also show Mr. Biden widening his margin, according WSJ.
There are two remaining presidential debates planned, but it remains unclear as to whether one or both will take place because of Mr. Trump's Covid-19 diagnosis. The president wants to debate, and so does Mr Biden, but the former vice president has said there should be no debate if Mr. Trump is ill.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidelines say people who have contracted the virus can stop isolating after 10 days from the onset of symptoms, so long as they haven’t had a fever in 24 hours and their other symptoms are improving.
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