Donald Trump and Kamala Harris took the stage on Tuesday night, with each hoping to become the next President of the United States. By now, you’ve read, listened, and heard enough takes analyzing the good moments and bad moments.
But when I watched the debate, I couldn’t help but think to myself: Both candidates could have been much more, as we call in radio, “PPM friendly”. That would be a reference to the Personal People Meters that we rely on for our Nielsen ratings.
Both candidates struggled to get clearly and concisely to their point when asked a question.
Let’s start with the economy. Kamala Harris was first asked about how to improve the economy.
Harris’ answer began, “So, I was raised as a middle-class kid. And I am actually the only person on this stage who has a plan that is about lifting up the middle class and working people of America. I believe in the ambition, the aspirations, the dreams of the American people. And that is why I imagine and have actually a plan to build what I call an opportunity economy.”
Kamala Harris was 15 seconds into her answer on the No. 1 issue on the minds of the American people, and she hadn’t even begun to scratch the surface of a serious and memorable answer. And in these debates, you want those memorable moments, ideally on the top issues that the American people care about.
Later in the debate, Donald Trump was asked how he would deport illegal immigrants.
Trump’s answer began like this, “Yeah. It is much higher because of them. They allowed criminals. Many, many, millions of criminals. They allowed terrorists. They allowed common street criminals. They allowed people to come in, drug dealers, to come into our country, and they’re now in the United States. And told by their countries like Venezuela don’t ever come back or we’re going to kill you.”
Is Donald Trump even close to answering the question he was asked? Of course not.
By the way, millions of Americans are dying to know the answer to that question. Most realize that the current levels of illegal immigration are unsustainable, so how will the next President fix it? We don’t know.
So, millions of Americans who are tuning in hoping to get a feel for their next leader of the free world are dejected, disheartened, and entirely confused.
The candidates (at least Harris) reportedly spent days preparing for this night’s debate. While it’s always a politician’s job to obfuscate, to some degree, the consulting class would do well to teach their candidates that in a society that is losing its concentration at a rapid pace and has untold sums of content and distractions at its fingertips, you better make your point clearly and concisely and make it right away.
We see the research in PPM that if you are not engaging in your content in seconds when you’re back from a break, your audience is likely moving on. If you aren’t capturing their attention, they’ll find someone who will.
Neither Donald Trump nor Kamala Harris achieved that on Tuesday night. The ultimate loser remains the American people, who are looking for answers to their most pressing questions.
I’m not expecting a second debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, but if we get one, it’s time to get some PPM-experts in the room, show them the data, and help them get right to the point. That would also allow us to reduce the debate time by 30-40 minutes. And that’s one thing that might be bipartisan.
Pete Mundo is a weekly columnist for Barrett Media, and the Vice President of News/Talk for Cumulus Media, while also hosting “Mundo in the Morning” and programming KCMO Talk Radio in Kansas City. Previously, he was a fill-in host nationally on FOX News Radio and CBS Sports Radio, while anchoring for WFAN, WCBS News Radio 880, and Bloomberg Radio. He’s also the owner of the Big 12-focused digital media outlet Heartland College Sports. To interact, find him on X @PeteMundo.
