Donald Trump’s campaign team is unsure whether another debate with Kamala Harris would help his chances in November, and experts have said Newsweek that another head-to-head race with the Vice President might not be successful for him.

Tuesday’s presidential debate marked the first time former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris met in person. After the debate, which saw the two candidates clash over abortion, the war in Ukraine and whether or not immigrants eat dogs, a snap poll of viewers conducted by CNN found that the majority of viewers saw Harris as the winner.

The Harris team immediately challenged Trump to another debate and Fox News invited both candidates to another showdown. However, some political experts believe that more debates could hurt the Republican candidate.

Presidential historian Dr. Laura Smith, a researcher at Oxford University, said Newsweek: “The Trump team tried to organize more debates against Harris, perhaps to ease the pressure of this one debate, but also to expand coverage to audiences of different networks, as they were interested in moderators on different networks.

“Following the debate, Fox News invited both candidates to a follow-up debate. However, it’s hard to see what Trump could gain from it other than more media exposure, which he often craves and has lacked since Harris became the nominee.”

Smith said the importance of political debates has increased again in this election after declining in recent election cycles, adding: “2024 will go down in history as the year when presidential debates not only became relevant again, but also made the decisive contribution to ending not only a campaign but also ending Biden’s presidency.”

“The very first televised debates between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon in 1960 were also historic, as they gave Kennedy credibility over Vice President Nixon. In an election in which the economy also played a major role, President George HW Bush appeared distant and disinterested, unlike Bill Clinton, who answered voters’ questions in 1992.”

“Debates usually benefit good communicators, as Ronald Reagan demonstrated in both 1980 and 1984. Of course, there are exceptions. Barack Obama had a poor debate performance against Mitt Romney in 2012, but recovered during the campaign and had a better chance of doing so because there were three debates.”

Peter Loge, a former Obama administration adviser and director of the George Washington School of Media & Public Affairs, said a second debate would provide little benefit to the Trump campaign and said the impact of debates on the election remains small.

“A second debate would come late in an election campaign that will likely remain close,” said Loge News week. “Trump has a history of responding to situations that required finesse with a rhetorical hammer. If voters are truly unsure whose judgment and policies they prefer, a second debate could push them toward Harris because she is more focused and less prone to nonsensical tirades.”

“Trump is better with a big crowd, few rules and personable moderators. Even under last night’s relatively strict rules, Trump managed to keep talking and ended up getting more airtime than Harris.

“Harris is a trained courtroom lawyer. Courtrooms have strict rules that are strictly enforced. Harris is well versed in rules and procedures, so she excels in situations where there are rules that people have to follow. Throughout his career in business, on television and in politics, Trump has shown that he views rules as something that other people have to follow.”

Andrew Reeves, a political scientist at Washington University, agreed that the structure of the debates in this election does not mesh well with Trump’s instincts and mannerisms.

“Trump would probably not benefit from another debate,” Reeves said. “Last night, Harris talked less and attacked more, and Trump talked nonstop. Trump needs to better prepare and exercise self-control to perform better. But it’s hard to imagine that happening.”

Like Smith and Loge, Reeves noted that the historical trend of debates having limited impact on the race made it harder to justify another head-to-head race for Trump, saying Newsweek: “It is also important to remember that these debates do not really influence public opinion very much.

“Although the debate between Biden and Trump was of enormous importance in mobilizing a change at the top of the candidate list, it reduced support for Trump by less than one percentage point, and Biden’s support among likely voters fell by only 1.5 percentage points.”

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