exhaustion and boredom it was a fiery Clash at the ABC News presidential debate Tuesday night wait a minute I'm talking now if you don't mind please with Republican Donald Trump and Democrat kamla Harris both seeking campaign altering moments in their closely fought election it was a combative back and forth Clash over immigration foreign policy and healthc care but the debate was light on specific policy details with Trump seemingly on the defensive as Harris peppered him with Jabs about as fit for office at one point she goed him saying audiences and his rallies often left out of boredom Trump who has been frustrated over the size of Harris's own crowds fired back we have the biggest rallies the most incredible rallies in the history of politics before pivoting into a false claim about immigrants eating pets in Springfield they're eating the dogs the people that came in they're eating the cats they're eating they're eating the pets of the people that live there and this is what's happening in our country and it's a shame you talk about extreme there's less than 8 weeks to go before the election and only days until early voting starts in some states that made this one of the best chances for the candidates to State their case to 10 of millions of Voters it was especially important for Harris as opinion polls show more than a quarter of likely voters feel they do not know enough about her she entered the race only 7 weeks ago after President Joe Biden's exit as questions ver to policy approaches Harris served up a lengthy attack on abortion limits a key election issue since the US Supreme Court overturned abortion rights in 2022 Statewide bands on abortion have proliferated women have been denied emergency care and victims of incest were unable to terminate their pregnancies Trump abortion bans that make no exception even for rape and incest which understand what that means a survivor of a crime of violation to their body does not have the right to make a decision about what happens to their body next that is immoral however Trump claimed he believed in exceptions for abortion a position he compared to President Ronald Reagan Harris also claimed Trump would support a national ban an assertion Trump called a lie while declining to say explicitly that he would veto such a law the pair clashed over Harris's racial identity at one point after an invent moderator asked Trump about an event in July when he told black journalists Harris had recently quote become a black person whatever she wants to be is okay with me but those were your words so I'm asking I don't know I don't know I mean all I can say is I read where she was not black that she put out and I'll say that and then I read that she was black and that's okay either one was okay with me that's up to her that's up to her honestly I think it's a a tragedy that we have um someone who wants to be president who has consistently over the course of his career attempted to use race to divide the American people the two candidates are effectively tied in the seven Battleground States likely to decide the election according to polling averages compiled by the New York Times during the debate online prediction Market predicted 2024 presidential general election market showed Trump's likelihood for victory dropping to 47% from 52% Harris's odds improved to 55% from 53% in a boost to the Harris campaign pop Megastar Taylor Swift told her 283 million followers on Instagram immediately after the debate that she would back vice president Harris and her running mate Tim wultz in the November 5th election she signed it childless cat lady in reference to controversial remarks made by Trump's running mate JD Vance