>> The presidential debate also covered hot topics like foreign wars, immigration and the economy . And according to a recent EWTN Realclear opinion Research poll, the economy is the top issue for Catholic voters nationwide . >> They had the highest inflation, perhaps in the history of our country, because I've never seen a worse period of time. People can't go out and buy cereal or bacon or eggs or anything else. These the people of our country, are absolutely dying with what they've done. They've destroyed the economy. My opponent, on the other hand, his plan is to do what he has done before, which is to provide a tax cut for billionaires and big corporations, which will result in $5 trillion to America's deficit . >> CNN poll shows voters trust Harris on issues like abortion and democracy, and trust Trump on immigration and the economy, and for analysis on this, we turn to Matthew Continetti. He is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Matthew, great to have you back on. So first off, your takeaway from last night's debate, especially on the issue of the economy. Who do you think came out on top there? >> Well, I think on the issue of the economy , Donald Trump came out on top. You know , Kamala Harris refused to answer the questions posed to her by the moderators who were on her side. And the first question in that debate was posed to Kamala Harris. And the question was , do you believe that Americans are better off today than they were four years ago? She dodged the question. She never said whether she believed that to be the case. Instead, she went back to her plans for entrepreneurs and for housing. Contrast that with Trump , who has a strong economic message, who talks about how he had a tight labor market with no inflation during his first three years in office. And I think that answer in particular will resonate with voters in an area, the economy where Trump already has an advantage. >> Matthew, what about policy in general? I mean, do you think that either of the candidates articulated their stance well enough to voters? >> Well , I think the real question going into last night's debate was, would Kamala Harris be able to reassure voters that she has the skills and capacity to be the president of the United States? And I think coming away from that debate, we still don't have a clear answer. The fact is , Trump dominated the debate. He tends to dominate any stage he appears on, and he was baited into a diverting from his main message on the economy , immigration and war into kind of personal matters such as, you know, the crowd size or how big an inheritance he received from his father or what he was up to on the day of January 6th, 2021. I think those were distractions from Trump's main message. And so Trump couldn't land the knockout punch against Harris. But I also think that Harris did not really fill in the blanks for a lot of undecided voters who are still unsure about her , and who still fear that she's just too far left to be the president of the United States. >> Matthew, we mentioned the vice president is polling better on things like abortion and democracy, while former President Trump is better on the economy and immigration. What issues matter the most to voters? Do you think? I mean, is there one thing that could be a make or break in this election? >> Well, I think without a doubt the most important issue in this election is the economy. There's an old saying in politics, when the economy is the issue, it's the only issue. And we just had new numbers out from the census Bureau the other day, which showed that Americans still are not as rich as they were headed into the Covid 19 pandemic in the final year of Donald Trump's presidency. So that's a pay cut for every American under the Biden presidency. And so that's going to hurt Kamala Harris. You know, she pretends that she is different from Biden. And while it's true that they yes, are different people, the fact is, if you listen to her closely last night at the debate, there is no difference in tone or policy between her and the incumbent unpopular president of the United States. >> Matthew, almost out of time here, but what was your big takeaway from all of this? >> My takeaway is that this is a toss up election, and it's going to go down to the wire, and you would think that would favor the outsider Donald Trump. But Harris still could make a play for those undecided voters to say, you know what, let's have an end to the Trump era. I don't know if she'll be able to close the deal, but she still has a chance after last night. >> Matthew, thank you so much for weighing in. We really appreciate it.