Harris’s poised performance, Trump’s aggression: Experts look at body language in U.S. presidential debate

The highly anticipated debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump was a heated matchup that revealed their plans for America’s future, if elected.

The Democratic U.S. Vice-President and Republican former U.S. president traded remarks in a presidential debate Tuesday night about America’s economy, immigration and reproductive rights, as well as their respective records in the White House.

Here’s what experts who analyzed the exchange had to say:

Early in the debate, one expert noted that while Harris may have looked “under stress” at first, she quickly regained her composure and projected a confident presence.

“She gave strong and very symmetrical gestures right down the camera,” said Tracey Thomson, a body language expert at TruthPlane, in an interview with CTVNews.ca Wednesday.

“She was really appealing to public with good eye contact.”

Thomson highlighted Harris’ ability to seamlessly transition between addressing Trump and turning to the camera to connect with the audience directly.

“She felt at ease and conversational, but strong,” she added.

Harris’ body language appeared to be “congruent with her message of hope,” Thomson said. A symmetrical, energized and confident demeanor reinforced the forward-looking vision she sought to present to the American people.

To Nate French, a debate expert from Wake Forest University in North Carolina, Harris’s approach to the debate displayed a clear advantage over her opponent’s. She came out with an aggressive stance, approaching Trump for a handshake moments before the debate began — a move which seemed to throw him off balance, French told CTVNews.ca Wednesday

“For an individual who had to deal with criticisms [claiming] that she was not prepared; [comments like] ‘she was stupid’, ‘she was incompetent;’ she clearly showed her competence [in] the way she responded,” French said.

Thomson said Trump did not perform his characteristic handshake — pulling people in and off balance — nor did it look like a full handshake.

In contrast to Harris, Thomson observed that Trump appeared to grow increasingly frustrated and angry as the debate progressed, displayed in his body language.

“I think she ran circles around him. His head got lower; he was angry. He was showing his bottom teeth, quite a lot; contempt in his face. He lost energy, while she gained energy in her performance,” she said.

Thomson noted that Trump’s energy seemed to wane as Harris continued to “bait him a little bit”, and that the former U.S. president ultimately looked “tired” and “angry” by the end of the debate.

“Every time she looked at him, she gave him an asymmetrical gesture with one hand,” she pointed out, adding that meanwhile, Trump did not look at Harris directly, and most of the time, kept his head pointed forward.

Wake Forest University’s French said Trump overplayed his aggression in some areas, taking arguments to a space well beyond their logical scope and reason.

“She’s mastered a pitiful look towards him,” Thomson said of Harris, referencing moments where she undermined Trump’s attacks with smiling amusement and narrowed, skeptical eyes.

That amusement was particularly visible, French said, when she brought up Trump’s “crowd sizes” at rallies, and Thomson pointed out that her eyes widened visibly when the January 6 Capitol riot was mentioned,

She looked “very earnest,” Thomson said.

The role of the debate’s moderators was also a topic of discussion, with French noting their increased involvement in fact-checking claims from candidates, compared to presidential debates past.

During the debate, Trump referenced recent, uncorroborated claims about immigrants in an Ohio town, saying that, “In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs, the people who came in, they’re eating the cats… They’re eating the pets of the people who live there.”

David Muir, debate moderator and ABC News journalist, was quick to respond to Trump’s statement with comment from Springfield, Ohio’s city manager stating there had been “no credible reports of specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community.”

French explained that the moderators had to intervene more frequently with Trump, calling out both the migrant claims and those regarding abortion rights; in particular, what Trump described as the “execution” of newborns.

“There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it’s born,” debate co-moderator Linsey Davis said following Trump’s claims.

Harris also faced some fact-checking, French said, but it was both less intense and made for a smaller impact.

To hear French tell it, people watching the debate objectively would say that Harris won.

“You saw Trump really fumble and him not looking presidential,” he said.

French said people like former Fox News host Chris Wallace and former governor of New Jersey Chris Christie claimed the debate did not end in favour of Trump.

“I would cosign on that. I think it was clearly win for her, any way that we measured her stance,” French said.

In Trump’s post-debate comments in the media room at the debate venue, where he showed up alone, he claimed the debate was his best ever. French said this will come as a shock to viewers of the 90-minute broadcast.

French said many Americans can say who looked more presidential, which will matter as Americans go to the ballot box in November.

“I think for a lot of Americans in the debate, it is certainly the substance of what people say, but it’s also the image of what you see and the things that you’re left with,” French said.