Trump-Harris debate updates: Candidates go on attack in zinger-filled showdown

Fact Check: Needs context

The unemployment rate peaked at 14.8% in April 2020 when Trump was in office – that was indeed the highest level since the Great Depression, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But unemployment rapidly declined to 6.4% in January 2021 by the time Trump left office, as the economy started to rebalance. And that 6.4% unemployment rate is still better than the 10% peak during the Great Recession in October 2009.

If you eliminate pandemic statistics, the lowest unemployment rate under Trump was just slightly higher than the lowest point under Biden. Both were good: 3.5% under Trump and 3.4% under Biden at their lowest respectively, according to data provided by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Tying Trump to Project 2025 has been a big part of the Harris campaign strategy, and she’s already done so a few times during this debate. Polls have consistently shown the plan and its proposals are widely unpopular, so it’s no surprise that Trump is disavowing it yet again.

In mid-July, a YouGov/The Economist poll found that 47% of Americans thought Trump at least somewhat supports the plan, while more than half said it "accurately describes what Trump stands for" in an early August survey by Navigator Research, a progressive-aligned polling outfit.

—538's Tia Yang

Trump was asked about his shifting stances on abortion issues, specifically his flip-flop on support for Florida's abortion rights ballot measure.

He spent a majority of his response railing against Democrats for being "too liberal" on abortion access and falsely stating they support abortions after birth.

"In other words, we'll execute the baby," he claimed.

This is false. There is no state that allows the killing of a baby after birth. Infanticide is illegal in all 50 states.

"There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it is born," ABC News moderator Linsey Davis responded.

Trump is already wading into personal attacks against Harris while answering specific questions about the economy, calling her and her father a Marxist.

“Everything that she believed three years ago and four years ago is out the window. She is going to my philosophy now. In fact, I was going to send her a MAGA hat.” He continued, “She is a Marxist. Everyone knows she is a Marxist. Her father is a Marxist professor in economics. He taught her well.”

Harris could be seen laughing as he delivered the remark.