51% of voters say abortion is an important issue; Harris leads Trump by 4 points

Hofstra Student Reporting

Alexa D'Amato reports for WLIW-FM from the presidential debate in Philadelphia.

According to the Pew Research Center, 51% of registered voters said that abortion was an important issue when picking a president. For South Philly resident Genevieve Mitchell, her vote for president came down to her views on the topic.

I don't support Trump's. My understanding is that he tends to further limit the rights that women have for abortion, so my understanding is that Kamala is hoping to either reverse those, or at least keep the status quo.

The latest data from Pew show crime is a critical issue. Chris Mullah from North Philly agrees.

The crime rate in the city has been going up even more. I've been seeing less cops out, but I can say since this election thing started, I've seen more cops around. But before then there wasn't that much cops around.

Mullah and other locals, some at watch parties in downtown Philadelphia, will be watching tonight's debate, hosted by ABC News.

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Michael Dent reports from the presidential debate in Philadelphia at Radio Row.

According to new ABC News and Ipsos Poll, Vice President Kamala Harris leads former President Donald Trump by 4 percentage points among all adult and registered voters, with the margins changing by the day. Students at nearby Temple University explain why voting matters to them.

I think that there's a lot of issues, especially at hand right now.

If we rally together, then, we can make good change.

Given that it's a swing state, it's really important.

Those are the views of junior Olivia Brown and sophomores Nico Carter and Randy Keller. Over at Drexel University, politics professor Richardson Dilworth says voter turnout is key in Pennsylvania.

Who the electoral votes go to is going to be determined by probably a pretty slim margin. So that margin is going to be determined to a great extent by turn out.

To watch the Trump and Harris debate hosted by ABC News, viewers can watch on Hulu, Disney plus and other platforms at 9:00 PM Eastern Time, or stream NPR's simulcast on WLIW-FM.