Former president Donald Trump rejected the possibility of a debate rematch with Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday, saying he won the ABC News debate two nights ago.
“When a prizefighter loses a fight, the first words out of his mouth are ‘I WANT A REMATCH,’” Trump posted on Truth Social, referring to his opponent’s post-debate request for a second standoff in October. “Polls clearly show that I won the Debate against Comrade Kamala Harris, the Democrats’ Radical Left Candidate, on Tuesday night, and she immediately called for a Second Debate.”
The Harris campaign challenged Trump to an additional debate, which Fox News offered to host with Martha MacCallum and Bret Baier as the moderators.
On Wednesday morning, Trump told Fox & Friends he “probably” wouldn’t agree to another debate with the conservative network if it was moderated by MacCallum and Baier. Instead, Trump said he would much rather prefer Sean Hannity, Jesse Watters, or Laura Ingraham as potential moderators.
“THERE WILL BE NO THIRD DEBATE!” said Trump on Truth Social, referencing the June 27 debate against President Joe Biden as the first contest and the Tuesday night debate against Harris as the second.
An hour later, the vice president re-upped her request for another debate. “Two nights ago, Donald Trump and I had our first debate,” she posted on X. “We owe it to the voters to have another debate.”
Trump has repeatedly claimed he won this week’s debate with Harris, which initial polls by Reuters, YouGov, and CNN do not support. However, a Reuters focus group of ten undecided voters found six preferring or leaning toward Trump and three preferring Harris after they watched the debate. The last participant remained undecided.
The Trump campaign released an internal memo on Thursday showing Trump receiving a two-point boost among 1,893 likely voters in seven key states following the debate, while Harris remained stagnant in those states.
“We found that despite the best efforts of Kamala Harris and media to portray the debate as some kind of overwhelming win for her, voters did not see it this way as support for her remained flat,” the memo reads. “The only change we saw was a 2-point bump for President Trump in both ballot configurations.”
In the first ballot configuration, which takes into account third-party and independent candidates, Trump stands at 48 percent and Harris at 46 percent in the short time after the debate. When the Republican and Democratic nominees are the only candidates considered, the second matchup similarly finds Trump garnering 50 percent support compared to Harris’s 47 percent.
While there will be no more presidential debates this election cycle as indicated by the former president, running mates J.D. Vance and Tim Walz are slated to debate on October 1 in New York City. The vice-presidential debate will be hosted by CBS News.