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Donald Trump has ruled out another presidential debate against Kamala Harris, two days after a showdown when the Republican former US president was rattled by his Democratic opponent.
In a lengthy post on his Truth Social platform on Thursday, Trump wrote there would be “NO THIRD DEBATE!” and insisted he “clearly won” Tuesday’s face-off with the vice-president in Philadelphia.
“When a prizefighter loses a fight, the first words out of his mouth are, ‘I WANT A REMATCH,’” he said on Truth Social. “KAMALA SHOULD FOCUS ON WHAT SHE SHOULD HAVE DONE DURING THE LAST ALMOST FOUR YEAR PERIOD.”
Shortly after Trump’s post was published, Harris took the stage at a campaign rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, where she told supporters that she wanted the chance to debate the former president again.
“I believe we owe it to the voters to have another debate because this election and what is at stake could not be more important,” Harris said.
With less than two months to go until the presidential election, Trump’s comments appear to eliminate the possibility of another televised debate between the two candidates.
Harris was widely seen to have won Tuesday’s presidential debate, which was viewed by more than 67mn Americans, according to Nielsen estimates. The event marked the first time Trump and Harris had ever met, let alone sparred on the issues.
In a back-and-forth that lasted about 90 minutes, Harris appeared to get under Trump’s skin as she questioned his stance on everything from abortion to foreign policy. At one point, after the vice-president cast doubt on the size of the crowds at Trump’s campaign rallies, the former president railed about the number of illegal migrants, rehashing an internet conspiracy theory that some were stealing people’s pets to eat them.
A CNN poll conducted by SSRS after the debate found 63 per cent of 605 people who watched it thought Harris had won, compared with 37 per cent for Trump. Before the debate, a panel of voters was split evenly at 50-50 on which candidate would perform better.
Harris and Trump remain neck-and-neck in both national opinion polls and surveys of voters in swing states that are likely to determine the outcome of the election.
A Financial Times analysis of nationwide polls shows Harris leading Trump by a razor-thin two-point margin, within the margin of error.
Additional reporting by Steff Chávez in Charlotte
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