Why Harris campaign is fighting for unmuted debate mics

“The reason she’s saying to unmute the mics is because Trump is uncontrolled,” Ameshia Cross, a Democratic strategist and political analyst, told the BBC.

Ms Cross said Trump’s rallies and Truth Social posts, where he has launched repeated personal attacks against Ms Harris, offer examples of how he may approach the looming debate on ABC News.

Those attacks “turn off voters” particularly women voters, voters of colour and young voters, Ms Cross said.

Strategists have also suggested Trump’s insults may turn off crucial undecided voters. “One of the ways to win over swing voters is not by personal attacks,” Kevin Madden, a longtime Republican strategist, told the New York Times. “By nature, they don’t love partisan politics.”

If Trump’s microphone is unmuted while Harris is speaking, the likelihood of an audible insult or interruption ramps up. And the Harris campaign may feel a more aggressive Trump who is able to interrupt at will could benefit them by turning off these swing voters.

This matters in an election that will be decided by a relatively small group of undecided voters in a handful of battleground states such as Pennsylvania, where the debate is being held.

“He’s very prone to having intemperate outbursts and… I think the [Harris] campaign would want viewers to hear [that],” a person familiar with the debate negotiations told Politico this week.

The Trump campaign, according to reports, are eager for their candidate to focus on the key issues and not on personal attacks. One ally who speaks to the former president every week recently told the BBC’s Katty Kay that Trump will win in November if he sticks to talking about the economy, the border and crime.

It is fair to assume that if the candidates are only audible during their allotted answer time, then the debate is more likely to focus on the issues, as the Trump campaign wants, and not tense clashes and heated exchanges which would be possible with live mics.