[Source: Reuters]

Too forceful a reaction also risks playing into the stereotype of an angry Black woman, said Kelly Dittmar, the director of research for Rutgers University’s Center for American Women and Politics.

Tuesday’s nationally televised debate, the first face-to-face meeting between Trump and his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, could be a critical juncture in a race that is essentially tied eight weeks before the Nov. 5 election.

Trump has already leveled a series of racist and sexist attacks against Harris. The former president has falsely claimed Harris, who is Black and South Asian, only recently “became a Black person.” He reposted a vulgar online message suggesting she used sex to advance her career. He fired off insults that play into tropes about women and Black people, calling her “weak,” “dumb as a rock” and “lazy.”

Deploying those attacks in front of tens of millions of viewers – and Harris’ response – would carry risks for both candidates, according to interviews with eight pollsters, debate and political experts, and Black activists. More than 51 million TV viewers tuned in to watch the debate between Trump and Democratic President Joe Biden in June.

Trump’s insults might alienate key voter groups, including women, Black voters and moderates, according to John Geer, a professor at Vanderbilt University and an expert on presidential politics.

But Ford O’Connell, a Republican strategist, said the persistent tightness of the race showed that Trump’s attacks had not cost him support.

Harris, who would be the first woman, Black woman and South Asian American to serve as president, faces a complicated political calculus on Tuesday.

If she brushes off Trump’s attacks on the debate stage, as she has done on the campaign trail, she could be seen as unwilling to stand up for herself. If she engages with Trump’s rhetoric, she could be dragged into the mudslinging he thrives on and expose herself to accusations, fair or not, that she is exploiting her race and gender.