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September 12th 2024

A sharp round-up of the most important political news

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The US in brief

A sharp round-up of the most important political news

Donald Trump mocked the Harris campaign for having suggested a rematch after Tuesday’s debate, saying he had no reason to go up against someone he had “beaten badly”. Despite that bullishness, he quickly turned to attacking the moderators, David Muir and Linsey Davis. He claimed they had “brought disgrace” on ABC, the network that broadcast the match-up, for having the audacity to correct his falsehoods. His defenders, keen to spin what most pundits and a CNN poll of viewers agree had been a loss for Mr Trump, latched on to his claim that, between Ms Harris and the moderators, it had been “three to one” against the former president. Both candidates will see out the week touring swing states, assured that they won on Tuesday.

Mike Johnson, the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, scrapped a vote on a bill to stop the federal government running out of money at the end of September. Democrats oppose provisions tacked on to the legislation requiring people to prove that they were citizens before registering to vote. But members of Mr Johnson’s own party, including conservatives, moderates and defence hawks, also had various objections.

A group of election officials wrote to the boss of America’s postal service casting doubt on the organisation’s “ability to deliver election mail in a timely and accurate manner”. They outlined issues with employee training, delivery times and post marked “undeliverable” that could result in voters not receiving their ballot or votes arriving too late to be counted, in effect disenfranchising mail-in voters.

The proportion of new admissions to Harvard University who are black dropped from 18% to 14% in the first academic intake since America’s Supreme Court ended race-based affirmative action. A similar trend was reported by other universities, including Brown and MIT. The share of Asian-American students starting at Harvard remained unchanged from last year, at 37%.

Some 340,000 people have followed a link posted by Taylor Swift to a site where they can register to vote, according to the General Services Administration, which manages various aspects of federal government bureaucracy. That number was reached within 24 hours of the pop superstar endorsing Ms Harris after the debate. It seems fewer ballots will have a blank space this November.

Tall tails

When Mr Trump declared, 33 minutes into the debate, that illegal immigrants were eating pets in Springfield, Ohio, most viewers were flummoxed. But Mr Trump’s more online fans were primed for it: the allegation had been circulating in right-wing circles on social media. We explain just what is going on in Springfield, and how the town worked its way onto the debate stage.

A view from elsewhere
During the debate Ms Harris made the real Mr Trump pop out “like an unhinged Jack-in-the-box”, wrote Pooja Pillai in the Indian Express, a newspaper. “It is arguable whether Harris has anything more to offer on many of the issues that were raised during the debate” she said, but “it may be enough that she presents a saner, more grown-up alternative” to Mr Trump.

Figure of the day

230, the number of times Mr Trump said the word “they” during the debate, whether he was talking about Mr Biden and Ms Harris, immigrants or Haitians eating pets. Read our story about what the words the candidates chose, and how they said them, reveals about the debate.

We want to hear from you about the debate
We’re keen to hear your take on how Tuesday’s debate went. If you have thoughts on the contest drop us a line at usib@economist.com. And, of course, we still welcome your feedback on this newsletter.

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Today’s poll

Every week YouGov polls Americans on behalf of The Economist. After a school shooting in Georgia on September 4th put gun violence on the electoral agenda, we asked what kind of gun-control policies Americans supported. Some, like banning assault rifles and allowing public-school teachers to carry concealed weapons, were divisive. But some measures, like universal background checks, were popular with people of all parties.

Daily quiz

From Monday to Thursday we’ll quiz you on all things America. This week’s winner is Sonia Barrad in Long Beach, California. The answers were:

Monday: The official name of the “Sears Tower” is the Willis Tower.

Tuesday: Electricity had its American debut at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893. So too did the incandescent lights and ferris wheel it powered.

Wednesday: In John Hughes’ “Ferris Bueller’s day off” the eponymous character pretends to be ill to go on a tour of Chicago with his mates.

Thursday: McDonald’s founded Hamburger University.

From Monday to Thursday we’ll quiz you on all things America. This week’s winner is Sonia Barrad in Long Beach, California. The answers were:

Monday: The official name of the “Sears Tower” is the Willis Tower.

Tuesday: Electricity had its American debut at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893. So too did the incandescent lights and ferris wheel it powered.

Wednesday: In John Hughes’ “Ferris Bueller’s day off” the eponymous character pretends to be ill to go on a tour of Chicago with his mates.

Thursday: McDonald’s founded Hamburger University.

From Monday to Thursday we’ll quiz you on all things American.

Wednesday: The famous “Lincoln–Douglas debates”, between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas, were not actually presidential debates. Which office were the two men vying for?

Tuesday: In the first debate of 1980 Jimmy Carter, the Democratic incumbent president, did not square off against his Republican challenger, Ronald Reagan. Who did?

See how to take part in the quiz at the bottom of this page.

If you enjoyed this week’s quiz, play Dateline, The Economist’s new history game.

Heard on MSNBC

She spanked that ass.

—Michael Steele, an MSNBC host and former chair of the Republican National Committee, assesses Tuesday’s debate.

Read all of our recent coverage of the 2024 election. Confused about a term? Check out our A-Z of American politics.

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