The second part of the Democratic first debate took place on June 27.The candidates with the highest approval ratings participated in the debate, namely Joe Biden (32%) and Bernie Sanders (16%). The issues of healthcare, education, immigration, gun violence, and some foreign policy matters were discussed.
One of the most controversial topics was the issue of Private health Insurance. Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris debated for the abolishment of private health insurance and the establishment of a program implemented by the government. Joe Biden spoke about his family tragedy to emphasize the importance of Obamacare (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act).
During the debate all the candidates criticized Trump’s Tax Cuts Act. Joe Biden called for the elimination of the tax cuts for the rich, and Sanders qualified Trump as “pathological liar, fraud and racist”, who doesn’t support working families and lies to his constituents.
As for the immigration issue- only one of the candidates (Michael Bennet) was against the decriminalization of crossing the border without documents. Joe Biden thinks that the solution is in the provision of the regional support. He reminded that while in office they provided $740 mln to solve the problem.
Unlike the domestic issues, the foreign policy was not well discussed during the debate. If in the first part of the first debate 4 candidates mentioned China as geopolitical threat, during the second part of the debate two candidates mentioned Russia, and some time later Kamala Harris mentioned Donald Trump as the main threat.
In the course of the debate Kamala Harris stood out. The latter as the only black woman candidate blamed Joe Biden for being opposed to bussing (a program aimed to overcome segregation at schools) and for his opinion about segregationist senators and pictured herself as a victim in that situation.
In spite of the inner competition, the pivotal problem for them was to criticize Donald Trump’s policy and to show that only they can beat him during 2020 elections. Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders are leading candidates, however such candidates as Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, Elizabeth Warren were predominantly active during the debate. They are going to be the main opponents of Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders.