Photo: News_WCUStudentReactionDebate: ABC News Signage at Presidential Debate via Olivia Schlinkman.
The presidential debate held between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris that was held on Tuesday, Sept. 10, is estimated to have had a viewership of over 67 million. This number may not include those who read articles covering the substance of the debate in the following days. With that many people watching and reading about it, opinions on how the debate went vary drastically. Even here at West Chester University (WCU), students have differing thoughts on its structure and the performance of the two candidates. In a survey, WCU students had the chance to respond and voice their feelings regarding several aspects of the debate.
First, students were asked if they were satisfied with Trump and Harris being the two presidential candidates. Only a third of the people who responded said that they were happy with the two options, while the rest said they were unhappy with them. Some students expressed their disdain for the candidates, one saying that, “they both are not even close for good selections to be president. But here we are.” Another student commented that “These candidates are not representative of the majority interest, I believe we could do much better instead of constantly recycling the same candidates over and over again.”
While these two students stated their grievances with both candidates, other students voiced their frustration at specific candidates. In their response, a student stated that “Kamala Harris shouldn’t be the democratic candidate. Nobody voted for her, the position was handed to her because of how last minute the need for a democratic candidate was.” Yet another student offered a differing opinion, stating that “I am unsatisfied with Trump being a candidate because I feel as though the amount of lies and criminal fraud he has performed should not make him eligible for president.” These results show that many WCU students have issues with one or both presidential candidates.
Next, students were asked who they thought performed better during the debate, and about 85% of people believe Harris did just that. A student who thought Harris won the debate stated that, “Kamala got into his head early and made him talk about things not important to the election and he started just rambling on and on, and Kamala took advantage of that.” A political science major believed, “she actually focused on policies that she is interested in implementing, which is the whole point of the debate. While they both engaged in accusations of the other, Harris did it less and in a more controlled, honest way.” A student who believed that Trump performed better said it was “because Kamala didn’t do anything or say anything worth voting for.” In a poll conducted by CNN, 63% of debate watchers said that Harris performed better. In a separate poll by The Washington Post, 25 swing state voters were asked the same question and 23 — or 92% — agreed that it was Harris. According to these polls, WCU students seem to align with most Americans.
In another question, students were asked if the debate changed their mind on who they were voting for, and all of them said no. Most students said that they were either put off by a particular candidate or simply sided with the beliefs and policies that they put forth. History major Gaven Mitchell had a slightly different response, as he said that “my vote hinges in the Supreme Court picks; otherwise, I’m not too interested in either candidate.” With how positive each student was in their pick, it can be inferred that most of the WCU community was not swayed in who they would vote for by the debate.
Lastly, WCU students were asked whether or not they felt that the moderators did a good job orchestrating the debate. Two-thirds of students believed that the moderators did well in controlling the debate, while one-third disagreed with that sentiment. A student who answered “no” to the question wrote, “I feel like yes and no, my one big complaint is that they [fact] checked Trump on some things but never did to Kamala which is kind of unfair. But overall, they did good.” Another, who gave a more confident “no”, wrote, “Donald Trump was fact checked by moderators and constantly called out for not answering questions. Kamala was allowed to give wrong information and not answer questions without repercussions. Both candidates did wrong things, and Trump was the only one called out for it.” Most of the students who answered “no” had problems with the moderators favoring Harris and not calling her out on giving out false information while Trump was shot down when he gave untrue statements. The students who felt that the moderators did well mostly agree that, as one student said, they “did their job with fact checking and shutting down misleading information.”
While not every WCU student took part in this survey, these results can help readers garner a better understanding of how students on campus felt about the presidential debate.
Geoff Soland is a fourth-year History major with minors in Journalism and Museum Studies. GS1003383@wcupa.edu