Debate 2 Analysis
/My two lifelong buddies both decided they couldn’t watch the second debate; at a certain point, blood pressure matters. Kudos to them.
But for theme—and anyone else who cares—I wanted to do a quick Three Things recap:
Trump won. I know many people don’t want to hear this, but here’s my reasoning:
—More than 2,200 years ago, Aristotle laid out the three elements of rhetoric: logos (logic and facts), pathos (empathy), and ethos (the character of the speaker). You may think that the facts matter most, but that doesn’t apply to the remaining undecided voters-- at this point less than 10%. For them, ethos matters most. And Trump won on that count. Trump projected power, shrouding his deceit and evasion.
—His strategy differed this time. Instead of talking over his opponent, he talked over the moderator, Kristen Welker. She was clearly the best of the three so far, but Trump insisted on having the last word on virtually every question. He strutted, and she could not stop him. Biden always looked like "the other guy".
Biden was still good. However, his strong points were all under the category of logos. Trump had no good answers on his COVID performance, health care plans or the immigrant children permanently separated from their parents. And his contention that he was the least racist person in the debate hall was laughable. So, in other words, if you read the transcript of the evening, Biden was better. But for every person who does that, several million watched on video, where Trump’s lies and posturing were more persuasive.
Bottom line. Because most people have already made up their minds, and tens of millions have already voted, I give Trump a national polling boost of between one and two points. In some states and Senate races, that could matter. But Biden is still in the commanding position.
Of course, I’m curious to see what the polling shows in the next couple of days—and of course, what happens on election day.
# # #
Have a comment or thought on this? Just hit the Your Turn tab here or email us at mailbox@cascadereview.net to have your say.
