What Trump and Harris said during the debate about the issues most important to Americans

Immigration consistently topped Google Trends’ list as the most searched topic on Wednesday, followed by varying interests in health care, abortion, crime and wages.

Here’s what Trump and Harris said on both issues during the 90-minute confrontation televised Tuesday night on ABC News.

Immigration

One of the most memorable moments was when the debate moderators discussed immigration and border security, issues that regularly top voters’ agendas, according to polls.

Trump amplified unsubstantiated claims that migrants in Springfield, Ohio, stole and ate residents’ pets in an effort to highlight the high number of illegal border crossings under the Biden administration. Local officials in Ohio say such claims are false.

“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs. The people that came here. They’re eating the cats,” Trump said. “They’re eating — they’re eating the pets of the people that live there. And this is what’s happening in our country. And it’s a disgrace.”

Trump reinforced his pledge to carry out the largest mass deportation in U.S. history of some 11 million undocumented migrants with the help of the National Guard, federal authorities and local law enforcement. But he declined to provide details about how he would achieve such a lofty policy goal.

“They let criminals in. Many, many, millions of criminals. They let terrorists in. They let ordinary street criminals in. They let people come in, drug dealers, to come into our country, and they’re in the United States now,” Trump said. “They’ve destroyed the fabric of our country.”

Harris touted her previous experience prosecuting “transnational criminal organizations involved in the trafficking of weapons, drugs and people.”

She blamed Republicans in Congress and Trump for opposing a bipartisan Senate border bill that was defeated earlier this year that would have ended illegal border crossings.

After that legislation failed, President Joe Biden imposed tough new asylum restrictions in June, significantly reducing the number of border crossings just months before the November election.

Harris refused to say she would have handled the issue differently or responded sooner. At one point, she even criticized the size of Trump’s rallies.

“What we have in the former president is someone who would rather vote on a problem than solve a problem,” Harris said. “And I’ll tell you what, he’s going to talk a lot about immigration tonight, even if that’s not the topic that’s being discussed.”

Health care

Trump suggested that Republicans were working on an alternative to the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. Congressional Republicans were unable to repeal the law when they controlled both chambers under Trump, and repeated GOP attempts to roll back the law before Trump were unsuccessful.

“If we can come up with a plan that’s going to cost our people, our population, less money and provide better health care than Obamacare, I would absolutely do it,” Trump said. “But until then, I would run it the best I could.”

Harris said she no longer supports replacing private insurance with a government-run health care system, a position championed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), whom she supported in 2017. She pledged to “preserve and grow the Affordable Care Act” and praised price caps signed into law by Biden for certain prescription drugs and insulin.

Abortion

Harris pledged to sign any bill passed by Congress to restore access to abortion. Roe vs. Wade.

In a brief exchange with Trump that included a rare moment of muted microphones, she declined to say whether the proceedings should be allowed to proceed after seven months. Trump declined to say whether he would veto legislation that Deer.

Trump reaffirmed his belief that the decision should be left to the states and that he does not support a nationwide abortion ban. He made an eyebrow-raising admission that he had not discussed abortion with his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), and claimed that babies were being killed after they were born under abortion laws.

Trump said Democrats are saying, “The baby will be born, and we will decide what to do with the baby. In other words, we will execute the baby.”

Crime

Many of Trump’s comments on crime were tied to illegal immigration and policies in Democratic-run cities that he ridiculed as soft on crime. FBI statistics showing a national trend in violent crime declining from previous highs were inaccurate, Trump said.

“Crime is down all over the world. All over the world except here. Crime here is sky high,” Trump said. “Despite their fraudulent statements that they’ve made. Crime in this country is sky high. And we have a new type of crime. It’s called migrant crime.”

Harris took the opportunity to discuss the various criminal charges against Trump and his conviction, but declined to address the issue directly.

“I think this is so rich. Coming from someone who has been prosecuted for national security crimes, economic crimes, election interference, who has been found liable for sexual abuse, and whose next big trial is in November for his own sentencing,” she said.

In the context of the January 6 attack on the Capitol, Harris said she was the only candidate with “respect for the rule of law and respect for law enforcement.”

Wage

The moderators got right to the economics at the start of the debate, asking Harris the age-old question of whether Americans are better off now than they were four years ago. She largely dodged the question.

Harris outlined her economic plan, which includes a $50,000 tax credit for starting small businesses and a $6,000 tax credit for new parents. She derided Trump’s proposed tariffs on imported goods as a “Trump sales tax” that would amount to a 20% tax on everyday goods and cost families $4,000 more a year.

“Donald Trump left us the worst unemployment since the Great Depression,” she said. “Donald Trump left us the worst public health epidemic in a century. Donald Trump left us the worst assault on our democracy since the Civil War.”

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Trump said the tariffs would hurt China in particular, and he rejected Harris’s idea that he would provide tax cuts for the ultra-rich. He also highlighted the record levels of inflation that have occurred under Biden’s tenure.

“Everybody knows what I’m going to do. Cut taxes big time. And create a great economy like I did before. We had the best economy. We got hit with a pandemic,” Trump said. “We did a fantastic job with the pandemic. We handed them a country where the economy and the stock market were higher than they were before the pandemic. Nobody’s ever seen anything like it.”