Global outlets pick apart debate, with many saying Harris came out on top

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As in the United States, many around the world were keeping score as Vice President Kamala Harris debated former president Donald Trump on Tuesday night.

Leading outlets in several countries came to the conclusion that Harris had come out ahead, with some on the left and right ends of the political spectrum saying her verbal attacks put her ahead.

Yet officials and commentators in several countries also viewed the debate through their own lens – with their comments showing how closely they are watching for any signs about what the next potential U.S. leader will mean for their countries and their bilateral relationship.

In the United Kingdom, the debate was the subject of early-morning radio programs as analysts picked apart the postures, blows and falsehoods of the two candidates vying for the White House.

The BBC reported that Harris with her performance had put Trump on the “defensive,” in what it called a “fiery debate.”

Elsewhere in Britain, the right-leaning Daily Mail ran as its main headline: “Trump outgunned.” It praised Harris’s performance and said the “Democratic candidate succeeded in outmaneuvering and outgunning her Republican opponent on hot-button issues from abortion to democracy.” The left-leaning Guardian newspaper agreed the vice president “appears to win debate.”

In Germany, leading publication Spiegel commented that Harris “attacked her political opponent with adeptness.” In an analysis, it wrote that “she gave him a rhetorical beating, to say the least,” adding that “Harris managed to present herself as the superior one. As the more serious candidate.” An opinion column in the Indian Express said that Harris had “done her homework,” leaving Trump with “no chance.”

Others appeared to view the debate through a geopolitical lens, with responses that showcased the complex relationships between their countries and Washington.

In Moscow, the debate sparked a somewhat poetic reaction as a Foreign Ministry spokesperson likened the debate to the Titanic. In an elaborate metaphor, Maria Zakharova told reporters Wednesday the two candidates were like a pair of boxers or jujitsu fighters on board the doomed ship, with spectators asking, “‘What do you think? Who of the two won?’ And let’s remember it’s all happening on the Titanic. Who won? Does it mean anything? There’s only 15 minutes left until the iceberg.”

Separately, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia had “paid attention to the fact that both candidates mentioned our president, our country,” but said “the U.S. as a whole, no matter what party the candidates are from, maintains a negative, unfriendly attitude toward our country.”

He added of President Vladimir Putin that Russia hoped the candidates “will leave our president’s name alone” after Harris accused Trump of being friends with “a dictator who would eat you for lunch” and said Putin would be eyeing Western Europe next after his invasion of Ukraine. Trump sidestepped a question about whether he wants Ukraine to win and refused to say whether a victory for Kyiv – which the Biden administration has consistently supported – would be in America’s best interests.

Meanwhile, in Ukraine, political commentator Tymofiy Mylovanov, head of the Kyiv School of Economics, wrote that “both candidates were incredibly weak on Ukraine. They blamed each other for a lack of competence and leadership, but offered no strategy for moving forward. Neither directly said if they wanted Ukraine to win,” he added.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters Wednesday at a daily briefing that Beijing would not comment on “U.S. domestic politics,” but added that “we are opposed to making China an issue in U.S. elections as well.”

Beijing has carefully avoided making official remarks that could be seen as election interference.

The debate was among the most viewed topics Wednesday on Chinese social media sites Douyin and Weibo. Some online seemed to cheer on Trump, predicting he could bring more “excitement” to global politics, while others feared he would cause China and the United States to collide in a trade war.

Some Chinese experts and policy analysts called the debate a tie between Harris and Trump, while also warning that both candidates had taken a hard line toward China and neither would necessarily be good news for Beijing.

Leading Spanish media outlet El País also had criticism of Harris’s performance, calling the debate “lively, exciting and very tense” but concluding that “the debate was supposed to be an examination of Harris’ fitness for the office of president, but what she did was question Trump’s over and over again.”

Still, the outlet noted that singer Taylor Swift’s political endorsement of Harris at the end of the debate was “a cherry on top” for the Democratic nominee, leading its reporting with a more positive angle: “Kamala Harris corners Donald Trump.”