'Battle of optics, battle of ballots different'

A day after the historic presidential debate between Republican Party nominee Donald Trump and Democratic Party candidate Kamala Harris, the US debated the after-effects of the face-off.

While many polls showed that Harris was a clear winner, surveys among voters indicated that the debate did not sway some voters, but others seemed to have made up their mind on whom to vote for.

But political analysts warn that winning a debate is far from winning the presidential election. A candidate can win the battle of optics and also bag the popular votes, but end up losing the main battle. That is what happened to Hillary Clinton in 2016 when Trump won the Electoral College with 304 votes compared to 227 votes for Clinton despite the latter winning the popular votes.