Kamala Harris Failed to Answer, ‘Are You Better Off than You Were 4 Years Ago?’

David Muir: Let's get started. Tonight, I want to talk about an issue that voters repeatedly say is their No. 1 priority: our economy and the cost of living in our country. Vice President Harris, you and President Trump were elected four years ago, and your opponent, who's onstage tonight, often asks his supporters, “Are you doing better than you were four years ago?” When it comes to the economy, do you think Americans are doing better than they were four years ago?

VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: I grew up a middle-class kid. And I'm the only person on this stage who has a plan to lift up the middle class and working class of America. I believe in the ambition, the aspirations, the dreams of the American people. That's why I envisioned and I actually have a plan to build what I call an opportunity economy. Because we know that there's a shortage of housing, housing, and that the cost of housing is too high for too many people. We also know that young families need help raising their children. So I'm going to extend a $6,000 tax credit for these families. This is the largest child tax credit we've given in a long time. So that young families can afford cribs and car seats and clothes for their children. One of my passions is small business. Actually, I know that my mother raised me and my sister, but there was a woman who raised us. We call her our second mother. She was a small business owner. I love small business. My plan is to give emerging small businesses a $50,000 tax credit, knowing that small businesses are part of the backbone of the American economy. Meanwhile, my opponent's plan is to do what we've always done: cut taxes on billionaires and big corporations. The result is a $5 trillion deficit for the U.S. budget. My opponent's plan is what I call the “Trump Sales Tax,” which would impose a 20% tax on the everyday items we rely on to get through the month. Economists say that Trump's sales tax would actually cost middle-class families about $4,000 a year more because of his policies and his belief that middle-class people should foot the bill for tax cuts for billionaires.

Former President Donald Trump missed the opportunity to point out that Harris hadn't answered the question: He first responded to her criticism of his policies, then he listed the Biden-Harris administration's economic missteps, especially inflation, as Harris grinned and shook her head.

Former President Donald Trump: First of all, I don't have a sales tax. That's a false statement. And she knows it. We put tariffs on other countries. Other countries are finally going to pay us back after 75 years for everything we've done for the world. The tariffs will be substantial in some cases. You know, I took billions of dollars from China. In fact, China didn't lift the tariffs. They couldn't, because they were so large. Because if they lifted them, it would have undermined everything they were trying to do. China took billions of dollars from China and other countries. The tariffs are still there. When I was in office, we had tariffs, but we didn't have inflation. The reason the economy is so bad is because inflation — which is known to really destroy countries — it tears countries apart. We're having inflation the likes of which most people have never seen. It's probably the worst in the history of the United States. It was 21 percent. But that's a generous way of looking at it. Because a lot of things are up 50, 60, 70, 80 percent from what they were just a few years ago. This has been a disaster for people, not just for the middle class, but for all classes. On top of that, we have millions of people pouring into this country from prisons and jails, from mental hospitals and psychiatric hospitals. And they are coming in and taking jobs that are now held by African-Americans and Hispanics and unions. Unions are going to be affected soon. And you know what's happening. You know what's happening in towns across the United States. Look at Springfield, Ohio. Look at Aurora, Colorado. They're taking over towns. They're taking over buildings. They're violently invading. These are the people that she and Biden put in our country. And they're destroying our country. They're dangerous. They're criminals of the highest order. We have to get them out. We have to get them out fast. I've built one of the greatest economies in the history of our country. I'm going to do it again, and better.

The fact that Kamala Harris couldn't answer the question “Are you better now than you were four years ago?” was a big disappointment, even for viewers who thought she won the debate overall. evaluation After the debate, Trump's rating on the economy improved.

Byron York Washington Examiner Observed That was the most important issue of the debate, and Harris “failed,” he said. Despite the media's rave reviews of her performance, he noted, “there was a sense the morning after that Ms. Harris, buoyed by the usual celebratory media coverage, really didn't shine on the issue that matters most in the 2024 election. … Ms. Harris didn't answer the question. … Of course, for millions of people, the answer is no.”