Trump-Harris debate: Democrats Abroad pleased with vice-president's performance at Vancouver viewing

Crowds gathered to watch the U.S. presidential debate at a number of Vancouver venues on Tuesday, and supporters of Kamala Harris walked away feeling enthusiastic about her performance.

The group Democrats Abroad hosted a viewing party at The Pleasant on Main Street, where attendees were eager to see a more competitive match-up than the previous debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden.

Partway through the event, U.S. expat Boyd Penton declared Harris had Trump "on the run."

"The man makes no sense, he never has," said Penton. "The man has no business being a president of anything, he's insane. We're proving it tonight."

Other attendees called Trump a "one-trick pony" who relied too much on "canned and tired phrases."

Political analysts credited Harris with goading the former president into making some eyebrow-raising claims on Tuesday night, including that immigrants were eating Americans’ house pets. 

Even before the debate, the chair of the B.C.-Mainland chapter of Democrats Abroad said the U.S. political left has felt "rejuvenated" by the emergence of Harris as their candidate.

"There's just a resurgence of energy that we haven't seen in such a long time," said Jennifer Phillips. "Across the globe we've seen an increase in requests to become volunteers, get involved."

But a Democratic victory is anything but certain, with recent polls finding the two candidates neck-and-neck nationally, with Harris leading by a narrow margin.

It's unclear what impact Tuesday's event could have on political perceptions south of the border, but a flash poll commissioned by CNN following the debate found 63 per cent of viewers felt Harris out-performed her Republican rival. 

More political junkies watched the candidates go toe-to-toe at The Rio Theatre on Broadway, which paired a live viewing party with a screening of a documentary on the life of Stormy Daniels, the former adult film star whose alleged sexual encounter with Trump became a major scandal during his presidency – and ultimately led to his 34 felony convictions.

Daniels was supposed to attend the event, but had trouble crossing the border, according to venue owner Corinne Lea. 

With files from CTV News Vancouver's Penny Daflos