Republican nominee Donald Trump said Thursday he would not participate in another presidential debate against Kamala Harris before the Nov. 5 election, after several polls showed his Democratic rival winning their debate earlier this week.
“There will be no third debate!” the former president wrote on the social media site Truth Social. Trump had participated in a debate against President Joe Biden in June before his debate against Harris on Tuesday.
While Trump touted his Tuesday performance against Harris, six Republican donors and three Trump advisers who spoke to Reuters earlier this week said they thought Harris won the debate in large part because Trump failed to stay on message.
The debate attracted 67.1 million television viewers, according to Nielsen data.
Harris, speaking at a rally shortly after Trump's post was published, said: “I think we owe it to the voters to have another debate.”
Although Trump said in his post that polls showed he had won the debate, several polls showed that respondents thought Harris did better.
Among voters who said they had heard at least something about Tuesday's debate, 53% said Harris won and 24% said Trump won, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Thursday.
The poll showed that 54% of registered voters believed a single debate between Trump and Harris was sufficient, while 46% wanted a second debate.
Most debate observers said Harris outperformed Trump, according to a CNN Flash poll published shortly after the debate. YouGov showed that 54% of respondents said Harris won, while 31% said Trump was the victor.
