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Kamala Harris' 'condescending' expressions during VP debate may turn away undecided voters, says expert

Harris faced the incumbent vice president in the only debate between the two candidates that was held in Salt Lake City, Utah

Kamala Harris inspired a flurry of memes following her vice-presidential debate with Mike Pence on Wednesday, October 8 night. The California Democrat faced off against the incumbent vice president in the only debate between the two candidates that was held in Salt Lake City, Utah. As compared to last week's clash between President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger Joe Biden, the VP debate was rather muted and respectful. Nonetheless, Harris' facial expressions to Pence's attacks sparked a barrage of comments on social media, the Daily Express reported. While Biden-Harris backers drooled at the expressions, some experts said they could potentially turn a lot of undecided voters away from Harris.

The Lincoln Project, a political action committee led by anti-Trump Republicans, lauded Harris as they posted a screenshot of her looking confused as her opponent spoke. “All of us hearing Pence's lies," they tweeted.

Some social media users went so far as to crown her facial expressions the "real winner" of the night. "I love Kamala Harris so much. Listening to her is refreshing, she knows what she’s talking about, and her facial expressions in response to Pence are terrific. She’s going to make one hell of a vice president," one Twitter user posted. A second went on to write, "The only reason I watched tonight’s #VPdebate was to witness the pure gold of Kamala Harris’ facial expressions as she listened to Mike Pence’s worthless dunce babble while preparing to eviscerate him. I’m here for the WTF face." A third posted, "Kamala Harris’ facial expressions and body language are giving me LIFE right now." Another chimed in, "I think we can all agree Kamala Harris’ facial expressions are the real winner of this debate."

However, many slammed her for the "teenager" facial expressions. "Kamala Harris is TERRIBLE in a one on one debate. There's nowhere for her to hide. Her uncontrollable smarmy teenager's facial expressions are on screen the entire time. I knew she would be bad but I didn't think she would be this bad," one tweet read and another said, "Kamala Harris needs to stop with the childish facial expressions." One posted, "Kamala Harris is unlikable with her smug facial expressions. #VPDebate."

Meanwhile, some experts also concluded that Harris' reactions would be detrimental to her campaign. Pollster Frank Luntz, who talks to undecided voters in focus groups, said her expressions could potentially put off those who weren't already Democrats. “I might get canceled for this, but my undecided focus group doesn’t like how Kamala Harris interacts with her opponent," he wrote on Twitter. “We saw this in the Dem debates – she is applauded for her knowledge, but they just don’t like her ‘condescending reactions.’”

Luntz's focus group was asked following the debate to describe Harris and Pence in keywords based solely on their performance. According to him, the group said Harris was "evasive, nervous, shifting blame, caring, snarky, nervous, evasive," while Pence was described as “robot, even-keeled, bland, regressive, professional, typical politician". One of the focus group voters, however, noted that women are perceived differently from men and that nobody was talking about facial expressions following the presidential debate last week.

That said, the next debate will be held on Thursday, October 15, between President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger Joe Biden. The event will reportedly be held virtually in light of Trump's Covid-19 diagnosis last week.