our political director and Washington bureau chief Rick Klein is tracking the polling in this neck and neck race Rick the candidates they tried to play to their strength last night yeah good morning Michael we talked going into the debate about how much more Harris had to do to Define herself and you saw both candidates trying to let voters know about where they stood on some of the issues that voters are already predisposed to think they're pretty strong the big example of the night as as we discussed Trump kept going back to immigration and the southern border and here's a big reason why it is one of the strongest issues he has he is seen as more trustworthy among among voters by a 9-point margin 45% of Americans trust him more than kamla Harris on the issue of the border so that's why he went to it over and over again on the other side you saw Harris with some of her stronger moments talking about abortion rights in very emotional and visceral terms and this is an indication why of all the issues that we've pulled on with ABC News and iOS we see a much stronger Edge for Harris over over Trump on this more than anything else 47% almost half the country say she's more trustworthy on abortion rights that plays directly into the gender gap we've also talked a lot about this so far in this campaign it is a big one uh women are 13 points more likely to be supporting Kell Harris than Donald Trump so again this is playing to her strength right now this debate sets up this next two months and it's not just about appealing to voters who might be on the fence about who to vote for but whether to vote at all and that's why you saw the candidates last night playing to their strengths