Worried About the Economy? The Trump-Harris Debate Had Little to Offer You| National Catholic Register

ANALYSIS: Poll after poll shows the economy is the No. 1 issue for voters. Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump seemed to have forgotten that Sept. 10 in their first — and possibly only — televised debate.

In the storm of an unprecedented presidential campaign — which has featured, among other things, an assassination attempt of a former president and a last-minute swap-out at the top of the Democratic ticket — the iron law of American electoral politics held steady: Voters want to hear about the economy — and little else. 

A vast sea of election-year polling has confirmed and reconfirmed Democratic strategist James Carville’s famous dictum that “It’s the economy, stupid.” Days before the first (and possibly only) presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump on Tuesday in Philadelphia, Pew Research Center released a poll that found overwhelming concern over the economy among the general electorate — a full 81% of voters rate the economy as a “very important issue,” far more than any other. 

Catholic voters, too, prioritize the economy over all else. A new survey released last week from EWTN News/RealClear Opinion Research revealed that 51% of Catholics rate the economy as their top concern. This was followed by immigration and abortion, which rated as the top voter concern by 13% and 9% of Catholic voters, respectively. This trend held across every possible grouping of self-identifying Catholics. Women and men, Democrats and Republicans, those who attend Mass regularly and those who attend infrequently: All reported to caring about the economy at a similar rate.

Despite this, the economy received scant attention at the debate Tuesday night, which came as a disappointment to many of the 67.1 million who tuned in. Both Trump and Harris spoke about the economy sparingly during the showdown, affording only 11:50 minutes and 11:35 minutes to the issue, respectively.

And what they said was conspicuously light on substance. 

ABC News anchor David Muir, who, along with his co-moderator Linsey Davis garnered criticism for appearing biased toward Harris, lobbed the Democrat a softball economic question to Harris to open the debate. “When it comes to the economy,” he asked her, “do you believe Americans are better off than they were four years ago?”

Harris, whose campaign only added a policy page to its website on Monday, declined to answer the question directly and instead broke into a platitudinous story about growing up in the middle class.

“I am actually the only person on this stage who has a plan that is about lifting up the middle class and working people of America,” she said. “I believe in the ambition, the aspirations, the dreams of the American people. And that is why I imagine and have actually a plan to build what I call an opportunity economy.”

In response, Trump, who appeared slower and surlier than he had in previous debates, promoted his policy of increasing tariffs on foreign imports without explaining why or how he’d enforce them. 

Decrying the elevated levels of inflation under the Biden administration, he then said, “I created one of the greatest economies in the history of our country. I’ll do it again and even better,” before veering away from the economy toward illegal immigration — a decision that puzzled political strategists and pundits, given his polling advantage on the issue. To wit, a New York Times/Siena poll released last week found Trump leading Harris on the economy 55% to 42%.

The ensuing exchanges on the economy provided little clarification on the candidates’ plans. Instead, they were littered with negative attacks about peripheral issues. 

Harris attempted to saddle Trump with Project 2025; Trump reiterated the wonderful job he did as president: “Nobody’s ever seen anything like it.”

Harris said the Wharton School said Trump’s plan would explode the deficit; Trump retorted that he went to the Wharton School and insisted that the professors there actually find his plan “brilliant.”

Harris said Trump “has no plan for you.” Trump accused Harris of copying Biden’s plan like the Run, Spot, Run! children’s book.

They mentioned “plans” but few specifics. Voters want more than that.

Given the absurdity of it all, I reached out to popular Catholic commentator and Register contributor Emily Zanotti, known for her witty observations, for her take. But she — speaking for many Catholic women, I suspect — didn’t find the debate funny in the least.

“Women are heavily focused on how politics affects their family,” she told me.

“Right now, inflation has driven grocery prices so high, it’s become difficult to feed a family. We’re worried about rising crime and shocking home prices — things that make a difference in our daily lives and things that the Biden administration, which Kamala Harris is an integral part of, seem uninterested in fixing. Meanwhile, Trump was focused on weird immigration stories. Neither candidate showed they were committed to leading, which keeps me from being able to confidently cast a vote.”

If the brief and shallow debate exchange on the economy is any indication, both campaigns are betting that voters will be swayed more by feelings than facts this November.