Comment: Tonight’s debate questions matter as much as answers

By Doyle McManus / Los Angeles Times

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris have both shown themselves skilled at avoiding questions they don’t want to answer. The former president does it by burying questioners under a barrage of unrelated assertions, many of them false. The vice president does it the old-fashioned way, by taking refuge in vague talking points.

If they succeed at dodging and weaving their way through Tuesday’s debate, it will be a real loss for voters; especially the undecided voters in swing states who will decide the election.

The 90-minute session is probably the only time Americans will see the two nominees on one stage. On the surface, it will be an argument about competing policies; but underneath, an equally important test of the candidates’ temperaments and ability to think on their feet.

But getting candidates to answer questions directly in the allotted time is harder than it looks. I’ve been there: I was a panelist at primary debates between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in 2008, and between George W. Bush and John S. McCain in 2000. I learned the hard way that broad, open-ended questions allow politicians to respond with campaign slogans or switch the subject entirely.

Yes-or-no questions, questions that demand specifics, and questions that confront candidates with their inconsistencies stand the best chance of getting useful responses.

Here are some questions tonight’s moderators, David Muir and Linsey Davis of ABC News, should have on their list:

Questions for Trump

Election violence: The big question for Trump isn’t about policies; it’s whether he will encourage his followers to resort to violence if he loses, as they did on Jan. 6, 2021. Trump has refused to commit to accepting the result of the election, and says he believes Democrats can win only if they cheat. When he was asked if this year’s campaign could lead to violence, he said: “It depends. It always depends on the fairness of the election.”

Here’s a question that follows up on those statements: At a debate with Joe Biden in 2020, you were asked if you had a message for extremist militias. You told the far-right Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by.” Three months later, they stormed the Capitol, and you praised them as patriots.

Do you want to take this opportunity to tell your followers that violence has no place in our political system?

Abortion: You have taken credit for the Supreme Court decision that struck down Roe v. Wade and said states should decide their abortion laws.

But you have also said Florida’s law banning abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, before most women know they are pregnant, is too harsh.

Since the Supreme Court decision, 14 states have banned abortion under almost all circumstances. Five of those states outlaw abortion with no exceptions for rape, incest or the health of the mother. Are you OK with that? Would you do anything to protect women’s reproductive freedom in those states?

Climate change: Scientists say we just had the hottest summer on record. Phoenix has sweltered through more than 100 days of the temperature topping 100 degrees.

But you have called climate change a hoax. In an interview two weeks ago, you said people who worry about climate change are “fools” and that it’s just “weather.”

Do you believe climate change is a serious problem? When you’ve been asked that before, you have said you favor clean air and clean water; but that’s not the question. As president, what would you do to protect us against escalating climate change?

Child care: Last week, in New York, you were asked what you would do to lower the cost of child care. You said: “It’s a very important issue… . Child care is child care… . You have to have it… . So we’ll take care of it.”

That seemed pretty vague, so here’s a chance for what golfers call a mulligan: Do you know how much childcare costs these days? And what specifically would you do to lower those costs?

Tariffs: You’ve insisted that raising tariffs on imports from China won’t increase costs for American consumers. But when you raised tariffs on washing machines in 2019, their prices went up by almost $100, according to the conservative Heritage Foundation. Prices went up not only on washers imported from China, but on American-made machines as well.

Consumers ended up paying more. Why will this time be any different?

Questions for Harris

‘Turn the page’? The big question for Harris, who is trying to hold President Biden’s political coalition together while promising to “turn the page” is whether a Harris presidency would be any different from a second Biden term. Here are two ways to pursue that question; and it will probably take two tries:

You’ve spent the last four years promoting Joe Biden’s policies. But now you’re promising “a new way forward.” Aside from your name at the top of the ticket, what’s new about it?

A follow-up: Can you name any issues on which you’ve disagreed with Biden? Are there any decisions the Biden administration made that you wish had come out differently?

Electric vehicle mandates: In 2019, you supported a mandate to require automakers to stop making gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035. Last week, your campaign told Axios that you don’t support an electric vehicle mandate of any kind.

Why did you change your position? Did you have a change of heart over the policy, or are you simply trying to improve your chances of winning autoworkers’ votes in states like Michgan?

Immigration: In 2019, you said you favored decriminalizing unauthorized border crossings, making them a civil offense instead of a criminal offense. In your CNN interview last month, you said you had changed your position, and that you now think unauthorized crossings should come with a “consequence.”

What did you mean by that? What consequence should migrants or asylum seekers face if they cross the border without authorization?

Price gouging: Last month, you blamed high grocery prices on “price gouging” by corporations, and proposed federal action to crack down. Would your plan apply to prices now, or only in a national emergency?

Would penalties kick in automatically, or would the plan merely empower the Federal Trade Commission to investigate possible cases?

Questions for both

Social Security and Medicare: Social Security and Medicare are both headed for serious financial problems in about 10 years. The longer we postpone fixing them, the harder it’s going to be. What specific steps would you take to shore up Social Security and Medicare to make sure they are still there for people when people now in their 40s and 50s retire?

The Israel-Hamas war in Gaza: The latest Israel-Hamas war has been going on for 11 months and has claimed more than 41,000 Palestinian lives in Gaza, according to health officials there.

What specifically would you do in your first hundred days in office to end the war? Tell us at least three specific steps you would take.

The war in Ukraine: Russia invaded Ukraine 2 ½ years ago. What national interest does the United States have in this war?

What specific actions would you take to help bring the war to an honorable end?

Would you continue funding and supplying Ukraine? Would you press Ukraine to give up the territory Russia has occupied?

The chances of getting answers?

Will the candidates answer all those questions in a crisp, clear way?

Not a chance.

The moderators will have their hands full just trying to keep the debate orderly; no easy task, as Trump has shown in past debates.

But if they can elicit clear answers to even one or two questions, they will have done their jobs — and given voters new and useful information as they choose the next president of the United States.