By Hannah Lynn, World News Editor
On Thursday, Jun. 27, Former President Donald J. Trump and Current President Joe Biden went head-to-head in the first debate between the two presidential candidates for the 2024 election season. This debate included a unique structure, responses to Americans’ questions, and some moments of humor.
Presidential debates are held in high regard in the political world because it is where the public can get direct information on the presidential candidates’ beliefs and accomplishments. The goal of a presidential debate is to help voters make informed decisions on whom they want to lead the country before they cast their vote on election day.
CNN took on the responsibility of hosting and setting up for this presidential debate’s new structure. According to a WBALTV Article, there was no audience included in the debate, straying away from the norm. The microphones were muted to keep the debate more civil between the two candidates, therefore creating a better viewing experience for those at home. This debate is also one of the earliest Presidential debates of the election season. This debate’s structure and timing make it one of the most unique presidential debates in U.S. history.
The debate’s moderators, who took the role of asking the candidates questions, were Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, both of whom worked for CNN.
“The debate logistics ultimately favored Donald Trump,” remarked Dr. Austin Trantham, Assistant professor at Saint Leo University. “Both candidates’ microphones were muted when not directly answering a question. This change allowed Trump to not speak over President Biden or the moderators, something that occurred in previous debates. Further, the debate moderators did not “fact-check” during the event, so Trump was able to freely state his points without correction.”
During the debate, the candidates discussed multiple issues such as the economy, abortion rights, and international affairs. These key issues are very important to Americans because they affect citizens’ daily lives. The candidates vary largely on how they want to handle these issues, and if the other candidate handled them effectively while in office.
One instance of how the candidates have completely differing viewpoints is regarding the economy. Biden said that when Trump was president, “The economy collapsed. There were no jobs. The unemployment rate rose to 15 percent. It was terrible.”
However, Trump said that under him “We had the greatest economy in the history of our country. We had never done so well. Every – everybody was amazed by it. Other countries were copying us.” The candidates believe they specifically helped the economy and that the other damaged it.
Another instance of the candidates having differing viewpoints is regarding international affairs. Trump claims that “As far as Russia and Ukraine, if we had a real president, a president that knew – that was respected by Putin, he would have never – he would have never invaded Ukraine. A lot of people are dead right now, much more than people know. You know, they talk about numbers. You can double those numbers, maybe triple those numbers. He did nothing to stop it. In fact, I think he encouraged Russia from going in.”
However, Biden feels that “If you take a look at what Trump did in Ukraine, he’s – this guy told Ukraine – told Trump, do whatever you want. Do whatever you want. And that’s exactly what Trump did to Putin, encouraged him, do whatever you want. And he went in.” These candidates are putting the blame on each other in the war with Ukraine and Russia. They feel they both didn’t do anything to escalate the dispute and that it was the other. Both candidates feel that they did the right thing, and the other did not.
One thing that many Americas noticed is that the current President, Biden, seemed to be confused during the debate and it was difficult to understand what he was saying due to it sounding like mumbling, with Trump even joking, “I really don’t know what he said at the end of the sentence, I don’t think he himself knows what he said.”
Along with mumbling, President Biden kept misspeaking during the debate and at one point said, “We finally beat Medicare.” These factors brought concerns to many Americans that due to Biden’s advanced age, he may not be fit to be president based on his performance in the debate.
Biden’s performance in the debate even brought some concerns to the Democratic Party about whether or not Biden should withdraw from the race entirely. With concern even in the president’s own party if he should still be a candidate, this may cause many undecided voters to swing in favor of Trump.
Even though voters are concerned about Biden’s performance, mostly due to his age, many voters also consider the fact that Trump’s age is not that far behind Biden’s, and many of the concerns of old age could show up during Trump’s presidency as well.
Both candidates were accused of spreading false information during the debate, as sources conclude that on average, Trump had more instances of spreading misinformation than Biden did.
Some notable moments of misinformation regarding Biden were when he claimed, “By the way, the Border Patrol endorsed me, endorsed my position.” Soon after, the official Border Patrol via an “X“ account posted “To be clear, we never have and never will endorse Biden,” which sent shockwaves among citizens who saw the post.
Some notable moments of misinformation regarding Trump were when he claimed, according to an NBC News Article, “That’s why you [Americans] had no terror, at all, during my administration. This place, the whole world, is blowing up under him.” This turned out not to be entirely true, according to the same NBC article. “There were two ISIS-inspired terrorist attacks while Trump was president,” it read.
Even though a debate is intended to be a serious affair, there was some unintentional humor between the candidates. At one point, the candidates got into a slight debate on their physical abilities and held an extremely off-topic discussion about their golf skills.
Another funny moment between the candidates was the facial expressions that they were making at each other’s claims. They seemed unable to hold back how they felt and wanted to let the American people know!
Students and staff at Saint Leo University had a variety of thoughts on the Presidential debates, but Stephany Nieto, a Senior political science major thought that “it was an interesting debate” and wanted to make the note “that both candidates weren’t necessarily doing so great up there, but Trump was a much stronger speaker than Biden.”
Trantham felt that former President, Donald Trump, won the debate due to the fact that “Overall, he came across as more focused and in control of his answers to moderators’ questions.”
Overall, many Americans who watched the debate reflect the opinion of Nieto and Trantham and feel that Trump had a much stronger performance than Biden. According to a CNN article,“Debate watchers say, 67% to 33%, that Trump turned in a better performance.” Essentially, Americans felt that Trump won the debate.
While some Americans couldn’t help but laugh, there were multiple important key takeaways from the debate according to Trantham. These takeaways would be that “The structure of the debate benefitted Trump over Biden, the candidates stated very different views on important policy issues, including abortion rights, taxes, and immigration and Biden’s overall poor performance reinforced critics’ accusations that, at 81 years old, he is too old to serve another term as president.”
CNN has provided a transcript of the debate for those who were not able to watch it but still want to make an informed decision before they vote, it can be found here.
The last of the two presidential debates between the candidates will take place on Sep. 13th and will be hosted by Fox News.
