Five big questions Harris dodged in the debate

Critical undecided voters said before Tuesday’s presidential debate in Philadelphia that they needed more information about Vice President Kamala Harris’ policies to decide whether to vote for her.

Instead of providing clarity, Ms. Harris ducked. She failed to explain her positions on the nation’s most pressing issues or why she considers herself the candidate for change after serving nearly four years in the White House.

On these five issues, Harris left undecided voters stumped:

The economy: Are Americans better off than they were four years ago?

The dodge: Ms. Harris deflected the opening question of the debate and one of the most critical issues facing voters in the presidential election. After four years of the Biden-Harris administration, which has been blamed for high inflation and interest rate hikes, voters still do not know whether she thinks the country is faring better economically.

“I believe in the ambition, the aspirations, the dreams of the American people. And that is why I imagine and have actually a plan to build what I call an opportunity economy,” Ms. Harris said.

She acknowledged “a shortage of homes and housing, and the cost of housing is too expensive for far too many people. We know that young families need support to raise their children.”

She pitched a $6,000 child tax credit and a $50,000 tax deduction for small business startups, and then she claimed Mr. Trump would raise the prices of goods by 20% with new tariffs on imports.

Illegal immigration: Moderators asked Ms. Harris why the administration waited until six months before the election to act on illegal immigration and whether she would have done anything differently from President Biden. They also asked Ms. Harris why she no longer supports decriminalizing illegal immigration.

The dodge: Ms. Harris never explained her administration’s delayed effort to stem the flow of millions of illegal immigrants who have poured over the border since she took office or why she has reversed her promise to decriminalize border crossings.

Ms. Harris pledged to sign a border security measure with little chance of passing Congress. The vast majority of Republicans say it is far too weak to significantly impact the border crisis.

She quickly changed the subject by disparaging Mr. Trump’s rallies.

“He’s going to talk about immigration a lot tonight, even when it’s not the subject that is being raised. And I’m going to actually do something really unusual, and I’m going to invite you to attend one of Donald Trump’s rallies because it’s a really interesting thing to watch. You will see during the course of his rallies, he talks about fictional characters like Hannibal Lecter. He will talk about windmills causing cancer. And what you will also notice is that people start leaving his rallies early out of exhaustion and boredom. And I will tell you the one thing you will not hear him talk about is you. You will not hear him talk about your needs, your dreams, and your, your desires. And I’ll tell you, I believe you deserve a president who actually puts you first. And I pledge to you that I will.”

Crime: Mr. Trump accused the Biden-Harris administration of facilitating rising crime, particularly crimes committed by illegal immigrants.

The dodge: Ms. Harris never responded to voter concerns about rising crime. She turned to Mr. Trump’s legal problems, including looming criminal cases and his conviction in a hush-money case in New York that he says was politically motivated.

She accused Mr. Trump of seeking to eliminate all federal law enforcement and then pivoted completely away from crime.

“So let’s talk about what is important in this race. It is important that we move forward, that we turn the page on this same old tired rhetoric and address the needs of the American people, address what we need to do about the housing shortage, which I have a plan for,” Ms. Harris said. “Address what we must do to support our small businesses. Address bringing down the price of groceries. But frankly, the American people are exhausted with the same old tired playbook.”

Energy: Mr. Trump accused the Biden-Harris administration of hobbling oil and natural gas production, which he said sent gas prices “up the roof.” He warned that Ms. Harris would destroy the energy industry if she is elected and drive up prices with unrealistic renewable energy goals.

Ms. Harris, as vice president, supported the Biden administration’s plan to eliminate fossil fuels from the economy and the nation’s transportation fleet in the next few decades. She also applauded Mr. Biden’s attempt to implement a moratorium on new oil and gas leases.

The dodge: Ms. Harris gave a vague explanation about whether she would try to limit domestic oil and gas production or why she is no longer calling for an end to fossil fuels, a central tenet of the Green New Deal she has supported.

Just a few months ago, Ms. Harris called for tripling U.S. renewable energy in the next six years, but she did not mention that ambitious goal at the debate.

“My position is that we have got to invest in diverse sources of energy so we reduce our reliance on foreign oil. We have had the largest increase in domestic oil production in history because of an approach that recognizes that we cannot over-rely on foreign oil,” she said.

Ms. Harris repeated her new pledge that she would not ban fracking on federal land for natural gas and then quickly pivoted to her middle-class upbringing and the value of homeownership.

She said Mr. Trump “got handed $400 million on a silver platter and then filed bankruptcy six times.” She pledged to build 3 million homes by the end of her first term.

Late-term abortion: Polls show most Americans oppose late-term abortions. Moderators asked Ms. Harris, “Would you support any restrictions on a woman’s right to an abortion?”

The dodge: Ms. Harris said she supports reinstating Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion up to the viability of a fetus, considered to be roughly 24 weeks of pregnancy.

She didn’t answer their question or say whether she would approve a federal law permitting abortion later than 24 weeks, which is legal in 21 states. Eight states have no limits on when a pregnancy can be aborted.

“Nowhere in America is a woman carrying a pregnancy to term and asking for an abortion,” Ms. Harris said. “That is not happening. It’s insulting to the women of America.”

She accused Mr. Trump of imposing “abortion bans” that have blocked in vitro fertilization treatments for couples struggling to have babies. Mr. Trump, however, is calling for insurance companies or the federal government to cover the costs of IVF treatments.