The Trump campaign argued Monday that the stakes are higher for Vice President Harris ahead of Tuesday's highly-anticipated presidential debate.
“She's been wrapped in bubble wrap since she got the nomination, and I think the bar she has to clear is much higher because a lot of people haven't seen her be asked straightforward questions about her record,” Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) said Monday on a conference call hosted by the Trump campaign.
Harris and former President Trump will face off on Tuesday night in the only presidential debate currently scheduled, their first face-to-face meeting and coming as opinion polls suggest the two candidates are in a tight race for the White House.
A New York Times/Siena College poll released Sunday showed Trump narrowly leading Harris among voters nationwide, 48% to 47%.
The survey results, within the poll's margin of error, were roughly the same as a New York Times poll released days after President Biden dropped out of the race and Harris became the Democratic candidate instead.
The poll found that only 28% of voters felt they needed to know more about Harris, while just 9% said they needed to know more about Trump.
Biden ended his candidacy after a disastrous debate with Trump in late June, in which he struggled to get his ideas and lines of attack across until the end.
Gaetz on Monday called Trump's June debate “the most dominant performance in history.” Gaetz said Trump's strategy against Harris is to highlight her record as a prosecutor and directly link her to the Biden administration's response to issues such as inflation, immigration and foreign policy.
“If President Trump ties Kamala Harris to her record, and we are confident he will, that will be a success, because the American people will see what a dangerous, radical liberal she is,” Gaetz said.
Harris spent days preparing for the debate with advisers in Pennsylvania, while Trump eschewed traditional preparation, instead holding rallies and giving interviews.
Jason Miller, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, likened Harris to an unpredictable champion boxer, arguing that no matter how well prepared she was, she couldn't take on the former president.
“You can't prepare for President Trump. There's no way,” Miller told reporters. “Imagine a boxer trying to prepare for Floyd Mayweather or Muhammad Ali. You have no idea what angles they're going to come at you with, what the contrasts are going to be.”
