I watched the Trump-Harris 2024 debate televised September 10th, in between a really good Toronto Blue Jays baseball game. 🙂 Here’s my quick summary of it, from a communication POV:

Kamala Harris was (more) eloquent, clearer in her messaging, used open, flowing hand/arm gestures from her mid-section (creating a sense of trust through openness) and answered the questions posed to her in a (more) direct way. She was even-toned and calm, and often spoke of a positive future vision and a way forward, not backward. However, I also feel she used the word/command “understand” way too often, and therefore it lost a lot of its effectiveness.

Donald Trump seemed to have a youthful energy, made strong eye contact with the camera when replying to questions or attacks, and his body language was similar to that of a sniper, taking aim at his enemy. (He leaned on his right side and pointed with his right hand, giving this impression). His language, as always, was chopped up into simple, easy-to-digest half-phrases. However his overall communication was very hostile and negative, and was clearly focused on creating fear. Fear of what would happen if he was not in the oval office again.

In my opinion, Kamala won the debate in terms of public speaking, but Donald pushed the fear so strongly, and knowing that fear is the number one motivator in humans, I honestly don’t know who will win the election.

Thoughts?

(photo credit CTV News)

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