2024 election updates: Harris heads to Texas to highlight abortion access

(WASHINGTON) — John Kelly, a former four-star Marine general and former chief of staff to former President Donald Trump, hammered his old boss in a stunningly public fashion on Tuesday — just two weeks before Election Day.

Kelly, who had previously refrained from discussing his time in the White House so openly, said in expansive interviews with The New York Times that Trump’s discussion of using the military against the “enemy within” — who, in Trump’s words included Democratic foes — pushed him to come forward.

“And I think this issue of using the military on — to go after — American citizens is one of those things I think is a very, very bad thing — even to say it for political purposes to get elected — I think it’s a very, very bad thing, let alone actually doing it,” Kelly said.

The former general held nothing back, arguing that Trump could fit the bill of a “fascist.”

“Well, looking at the definition of fascism: It’s a far-right authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy,” he told The Times.

“So, certainly, in my experience, those are the kinds of things that he thinks would work better in terms of running America,” he added.

Kelly went on to explain that Trump had said he wanted generals like those that Adolf Hitler had, a comment that Kelly found shocking and told the former president not to repeat.

The remarks from Kelly, while astounding coming from a veteran who attained such a high ranking in uniform, is just the latest to come from a former senior official in Trump’s administration.

Mark Milley, a retired Army general and former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Trump, told journalist Bob Woodward that Trump is a “fascist to the core.”

“He is the most dangerous person ever. I had suspicions when I talked to you about his mental decline and so forth, but now I realize he’s a total fascist. He is now the most dangerous person to this country,” he said.

Mark Esper, Trump’s former defense secretary, said earlier this month that he feared Trump would use the military against his domestic critics and that he would likely have fewer guardrails in a hypothetical second term.

“My sense is his inclination is to use the military in these situations whereas my view is that’s a bad role for the military. It should only be law enforcement taking those actions,” Esper said on CNN.

“I think President Trump has learned, the key is getting people around you who will do your bidding, who will not push back, who will implement what you want to do. And I think he’s talked about that, his acolytes have talked about that, and I think loyalty will be the first litmus test,” he added.

Trump throughout his tenure has also praised authoritarians, including boasting of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s intelligence, calling North Korean strongman Kim Jong Un “tough” and heaping praise on Hungarian leader Viktor Orban.

Trump’s campaign has hit back at the former officials, including going after Kelly on Tuesday.

“John Kelly has totally beclowned himself with these debunked stories he has fabricated because he failed to serve his President well while working as Chief of Staff and currently suffers from a debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome,” spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement.

“President Trump has always honored the service and sacrifice of all of our military men and women, whereas Kamala Harris has completely disrespected the families of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice, including the Abbey Gate 13,” he added, referencing the 13 service members killed during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

The latest eye-popping comments from Kelly come as early voting is already underway and Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris fight for a small but significant slice of undecided voters.

Harris’ campaign is anticipated to seize on the latest comments.

“The people who know him best are telling us Trump is unhinged and pursuing unchecked power that would put us all at risk. We should all listen,” Harris campaign spokesperson Ian Sams said in a statement.

However, national debate over Trump’s character has raged largely unabated since 2015, leaving Republicans skeptical the latest comments will make an impact with voters.

GOP pollster Robert Blizzard said it’s “hard to believe this is going to be the ‘ah, gotcha now’ moment for Democrats.”

“I have a difficult time believing there is a single voter that doesn’t have a hard and fast opinion on Donald Trump. They’ve come to that conclusion themselves, and I can’t imagine these people, who the average voter has never heard of, change that opinion,” added a former senior Trump administration official.

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Americans broadly pick Kamala Harris as the winner of last week’s widely watched presidential debate – yet neither she nor Donald Trump moved the needle in terms of trust on the issues, ratings of the candidates’ personal attributes or vote preferences in the 2024 election.

Even Taylor Swift shows little impact: Just 6% in the latest ABC News/Ipsos poll say the pop star singer-songwriter’s endorsement of Harris makes them more likely to vote for her; 13%, instead, say it makes them less likely to support her, with 81% saying it makes no difference. Those responding negatively are overwhelmingly Trump supporters, according to the poll.

Americans by 58-36% say Harris won the debate – a reversal from the Biden-Trump match in June, which Trump was seen as winning by 66-28%. Biden’s performance intensified questions about his cognitive health, precipitating his departure from the race.

The poll of 3,276 adults, produced for ABC by Langer Research Associates with fieldwork by Ipsos, finds that Harris did firm up some of her personal appeal: Thirty-seven percent say the debate made them feel more favorably toward her, vs. 23% less favorably. There was no such benefit for Trump: People by nearly 2-1 say the debate made them see him less favorably.

The benefit for Harris occurred almost exclusively in her base, potentially helping her turnout efforts. Sixty-nine percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning Independents say the debate made them see her more favorably. Only half as many Republicans and GOP-leaning Independents, 34%, say the debate made them see Trump more favorably. One factor may be that Harris, a walk-on candidate, has had less public exposure until now.

The poll also finds a slight dip in the share of Trump supporters who back him strongly – 56%, vs. 60% at the end of August. Sixty-two percent of Harris’ supporters now are strongly behind her, the first meaningful difference in strong support between the two.

That said, Trump shows an advantage in another gauge: while 42% call him too conservative, 47% call Harris too liberal, one of his debate themes.

Preferences

Vote preferences haven’t moved meaningfully. This poll finds the race at 51-46%, Harris-Trump, among all adults; 51-47% among registered voters; and 52-46% among likely voters. Each is within a percentage point of its pre-debate level in ABC/Ipsos polling.

Results are essentially identical when including third-party or Independent candidates Chase Oliver, Jill Stein and Cornel West; they get at most 1% support apiece. State-to-state ballot access for these candidates is a work in progress; ABC News estimates that as of now Oliver likely is on the ballot in about 36 states, Stein in about 27 and West in about 15.

It’s important to note that this poll measures preferences nationally, an effort to better understand how all Americans are coming to their choices in the presidential election. It doesn’t assess the contest at the state level, which determines the winner of the Electoral College.

The absence of movement in vote preferences, despite a 22-point tilt to Harris as having won the debate, marks the sharply polarized nature of the electorate. Almost everyone has a preference between Harris or Trump, and among those who do, few say they’d even consider the other. This is especially true among likely voters, with just 3% potentially persuadable to switch.

Another result also shows the entrenched divisions in attitudes. Seventy-three percent of Trump’s supporters say they’ve backed him all year. Of the rest, 17% were undecided at some point but settled on Trump; just 9% moved to Trump from another candidate – mostly, other Republicans or the former Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Barely 2% of Trump’s supporters came to him after previously preferring Harris or Biden.

It’s similar on Harris’ side of the ledger. Two-thirds of her supporters say they’ve been with her since she got into the race. A quarter were undecided at some point. Just 2% of Harris supporters have moved to her from Trump.

Movable voters can matter – as everyone matters – in a tight race. But these results suggest that the biggest pickings for Trump and Harris alike are in motivating turnout among their existing support groups.

Groups

Harris leads Trump by nine points among women while running virtually even with him among men, and by a slight nine points among 18- to 29-year-olds, entirely due to her support from women that age. She improves among young adults who are more likely to vote.

While younger women are important to Harris, the Swift endorsement doesn’t show a positive impact even in this group. Eight percent of women younger than 30 say the endorsement makes them more likely to support Harris, while 13% say it makes them less likely to do so. Most, 78%, say it makes no difference.

Her position among suburban women, an often-watched group, is similar to her support among women overall. More tellingly, she’s +12 points among independents, often a swing voter group in presidential elections.

Trump, for his part, leads by a vast 79-18% among white evangelical Protestants, with this core GOP group seemingly unfazed by his layered position on abortion. He’s roughly on par with past performance, having won white evangelical Protestants by 74-25% in 2020 and 81-16% in 2016.

In other groups, Trump leads by 12 points among white people, growing to 28 points among those who don’t have a four-year college degree, a mainstay of his support. Despite suggestions that he’s denigrated the military, he leads by 29 points among veterans, 63-34%.

Voters

Many of these results – but not all – hold steady when moving from the general public (relevant because there’s still time to register) to registered voters and then to likely voters. But there are a few notable exceptions.

Harris advances from +9 points among all adults aged 18-29 to +19 points among those identified as likely voters. This is fueled by young women, a cornerstone group in her campaign: Harris goes from +23 points among all women under 30 to +38 points among those likely to vote.

There’s a stark contrast with men aged 18-29 who are likely to vote: Just 51% in this group back Harris, with virtually as many, 48%, for Trump.

Trump, for his part, remains closer than usual to Harris among Hispanic people, now trailing her by 17 points among those who are likely voters. That’s better than usual for Trump compared with past elections: Biden won Hispanic people by 33 points in 2020; Hillary Clinton won them by 40 points in 2016, per ABC News exit polls.

Issues and attributes

While overall vote preferences are stable, so are views on issues and attributes. The economy and inflation continue to dominate as the top issues in the election, and Trump leads by 7 points in trust to handle each of them.

In the next most important issues, Harris responds with a 7-point lead on “protecting American democracy” and a 9-point lead on handling health care. The two remain evenly matched on crime and safety.

It’s clear, too, why Trump keeps doubling down on immigration as an issue: He leads Harris by 10 points in trust to handle it. She leads him by 14 points on abortion and by 16 points on handling race relations, although both rate lower in importance.

There are differences among groups in issue importance. In notable gender gaps, women are 14 points more apt than men to cite abortion as a top issue in their vote, 68% vs. 54% – a difference that holds regardless of age. Women also are 11 points more likely than men to cite health care as a top issue, 82 vs. 71%. Still, the economy and inflation top the issues list among women and men alike.

Harris’ best results vs. Trump continue to be on personal attributes, explaining her effort to lean in on this domain. She leads him by 32 points in having the physical health it takes to serve effectively, 17 points in honesty and trustworthiness, 10 points in mental sharpness, 10 points in understanding the problems of people like you and 7 points in better representing your personal values. All, again, are essentially the same as they were before the debate.

Overall favorability also is essentially unchanged: Forty-seven percent have a favorable impression of Harris, vs. 35% for Trump. Still, they’re close in being seen as qualified for office – Harris by 53%, Trump by 49%. The difference widens, however, among independents; 56% see Harris as qualified vs. 48% who say the same of Trump.

Debate

Lastly, on the debate, it’s notable that 95% of Democrats say Harris won, while fewer Republicans, 75%, say Trump won. (Among independents, 61% pick Harris.) Similarly, among Trump’s own supporters, 78% say he won the debate, while among people backing Harris, 97% give her the win. (These results include people who initially called the debate a tie, then leaned toward Harris or Trump as the winner.)

While 58% overall say Harris won, this rises to 64% of those who watched all or some of the debate. That reflects the fact that Harris supporters are 8 points more likely than Trump supporters to have watched. Harris supporters are even more apt to have read, watched or listened to follow-up news coverage or commentary about the debate – 75% have done so, vs. 59% of those who support Trump.

Methodology

This ABC News/Ipsos poll was conducted online via the probability-based Ipsos KnowledgePanel® Sept. 11-13, 2024, in English and Spanish, among a random national sample of 3,276 adults. Partisan divisions are 29-29-30%, Democrats-Republicans-independents. Results have a margin of sampling error of 2 percentage points, including the design effect, for the full sample. Sample sizes are 2,772 for registered voters and 2,196 for likely voters, with a 2-point error margin for each. Sampling error is not the only source of differences in polls.

The survey was produced for ABC News by Langer Research Associates, with sampling and data collection by Ipsos. See details on the ABC News survey methodology here.

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(WASHINGTON) — Former President Donald Trump has begun to shut down the possibility of a second match against Vice President Kamala Harris after debating her Tuesday night, claiming he doesn’t need to debate her again because he won the debate.

“Well she wants a second debate because she lost tonight, very badly,” Trump told ABC News late Tuesday night during a surprise appearance in the spin room after participating in the presidential debate hosted by ABC News in Philadelphia.

“So, we’ll, you know, think about that. But she immediately called for a second,” Trump said, refusing to commit whether he’d participate.

Less than an hour after the ABC News presidential debate ended Tuesday night, Harris’ campaign called for another matchup. The campaign put out an email touting her performance at the debate and blasting Trump for his responses and demeanor.

Pressed by ABC News why Trump wouldn’t commit if she lost the debate, Trump said he’s looking at polls, boasting about what he believed is a lead over Harris in polling numbers. Harris leads Trump, 47% to 44%, according 538’s polling average.

Trump’s non-commitment to a second debate comes after the former president in May said he accepted what was going to be a fourth presidential debate with NBC News between Trump and then-candidate President Joe Biden — after debates with CNN, ABC News and Fox News.

In August, after Harris took over the top of the Democratic ticket, Trump again agreed to participate in a debate hosted by NBC, after ABC News and Fox News’ debates. Trump ended up doing a town hall with Fox News last week after Harris declined to participate.

But since the ABC News debate, Trump has been gradually escalating the rhetoric that he doesn’t need a second match with Harris, telling Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Tuesday night, “I sort of think maybe I shouldn’t do it.”

“I have to think about it, but if you won the debate, I sort of think maybe I shouldn’t do it. Why should I do another debate?” Trump said on “Hannity.”

During his visit to the Shanksville Volunteer Fire Department in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, Wednesday afternoon to honor the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Trump said he was thinking about the possibility of a second debate.

“We’re looking at it, but, you know, when you win, you don’t really necessarily have to do it a second time. So we’ll see, but we had a, I thought we had a great debate last night,” Trump said. “I just don’t know. We’ll think about it.”

On Wednesday morning, Trump called into “Fox and Friends” and said he’d be “less inclined to” do a second debate with Harris. Still, he kept his options open without shutting down the possibility of a second debate completely: “Let’s see what happens.”

And on Wednesday afternoon, Trump posted on his social media site, “In the World of Boxing or UFC, when a Fighter gets beaten or knocked out, they get up and scream, ‘I DEMAND A REMATCH, I DEMAND A REMATCH!'”

“Well, it’s no different with a Debate,” he continued. “She was beaten badly last night. Every Poll has us WINNING, in one case, 92-8, so why would I do a Rematch?”

538 has collected three national polls and one swing-state poll that were conducted since the debate. In all of them, more people who watched the debate said Harris won the debate than said Trump did. On average, 57% of debate watchers nationally said Harris turned in the better performance; only 34% said Trump did.

Showing up in the spin room after the debate, Trump claimed Tuesday night was his “best debate ever,” suggesting his spin room visit had nothing to do with needing to clean up his debate performance.

“We thought it was our best debate ever. It was my best debate ever,” Trump said to a large group of reporters that surrounded him in the spin room.

“It showed how weak they are, how pathetic they are, and what they’re doing to destroy our country, on the border, with foreign trade, with everything. And, I think it was the best debate I’ve ever personally — that I’ve had,” Trump continued.

But after the debate, Lara Trump, the former president’s daughter-in-law and Republican National Committee co-chair who served as the former president’s surrogate in the spin room, said he had a “fine night,” adding she wished there were more debates.

“I think he had a night that we expected to see, which is that Donald Trump was four years in the White House. We all remember how our lives were then,” Lara Trump said when asked about Trump’s performance.

Pressed by reporters if she means her father-in-law didn’t have a great night, Lara Trump said, “I mean, he had a fine night,” and then added: “He had a night that was absolutely necessary, and I am so happy we finally got to see these two people on the stage.”

“I wish we had two more debates. We usually have three presidential debates. Kamala Harris has said — she only wants one, so far,” Lara Trump said just minutes before the Harris campaign called for a second debate. “Donald Trump would certainly be willing to do another debate.”

Some Democrats on Capitol Hill said Wednesday weighed in on the prospect of another Harris-Trump debate.

Sen. Tim Kaine said he supports another presidential debate between Harris and Trump, but said he didn’t think the former president would agree.

“I’m sort of not expecting that President Trump will accept a second debate, but [Harris] is very willing to do it and that’s good,” Kaine said.

Asked if another debate is needed, Sen. Cory Booker said “I don’t know about the word ‘needs.'”

“I mean this one debate was so revelatory, it so exposed Donald Trump,” Booker said. “I think it was a reminder for a lot of people just how unhinged and unchecked this guy is; how he can’t control himself.”

ABC News’ Allison Pecorin contributed to this report.

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