WASHINGTON: Thursday’s CNN Presidential Debate in Atlanta has President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump facing off on several key issues in a tight presidential race.

Inflation

Moderator Jake Tapper’s first question of the night was about inflation, which he said is a top concern for many American voters.

Biden blamed Trump for the problem, saying that he inherited a failing economy from his predecessor. “What we had to do was try to put things back together again,” Biden said.

Biden engaged in a balancing act between lauding his economic stewardship while also recognizing that many Americans are hurting over high costs.

Trump, meanwhile, celebrated his economic accomplishments, as well as his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Economic research indicates that the steep tax cuts Trump signed in 2017 prompted some economic growth, but nowhere near what Trump had promised.

About 3 in 10 Americans said the economy was the most important problem facing the country in a May Gallup poll, but that included an array of economic issues.

Abortion

Reproductive rights also featured early on in the debate, with Trump saying he would not block access to abortion pills.

As president, Trump appointed three justices to the U.S. Supreme Court who helped form the majority that overturned the constitutional right to abortion in 2022.

That decision laid the groundwork for states to impose restrictive rules on abortion around the country, but Trump said during the debate that he would not oppose abortion in cases of rape, incest or when the life of the mother is at risk.

Trump also made a spate of false claims about late-term abortions.

Biden, meanwhile, reaffirmed his strong support for reproductive rights, saying, “If I’m elected, I’m going to restore Roe v. Wade.”

He added that he opposed late-term abortion.

Russia-Ukraine War

The Russian military launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, about two years into Biden’s tenure as president.

During the debate, Biden and Trump appeared to agree on their opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s stated terms for the end of the war.

But Trump doubled down on his claims that the war would have never started in the first place if he had been president.

He also criticized how much aid the United States had given to Kyiv.

Biden said Trump would pull the United States out of NATO and risk an expanding war. And on the Russian leader, Biden said, “The fact is that Putin is a war criminal.”

VOA