The Presidential Debate’s Effect on the Mindset of Voters
October 29, 2020
The presidential debates between President Donald J. Trump and Vice President Joseph R. Biden have been appalling to say the least. Pure childish behavior and misinformation have only added to the controversy of the candidates. “That was a hot mess inside a dumpster fire inside a train wreck,” said CNN news anchor, Jake Tapper mere moments after the debates’ end.
But what actions led to the pure horrid nature of the debates? After watching through the first debate I was able to count one hundred and thirteen interruptions, seventy-six of which were made by the sitting president. The debate was interrupted so much that often Vice President Biden was unable to finish a single sentence.
Interruptions were not the only issue with the debate. Pure lies and misinformation of voters were detrimental to voters ability to choose. During the debate, President Trump said: “If we would’ve listened to you, the country would have been left wide open, millions of people would have died, not 200,000. And one person is too much. It’s China’s fault. It should have never happened,” saying later that Biden criticized him on banning travel from China. While Vice President Biden never criticized the Chinese travel ban.
“200,000 dead. As you said, over seven million infected in the United States. We, in fact, have 4% of the world’s population, 20% of the deaths. 40,000 people a day are contracting COVID. In addition to that, about between 750 and 1000 people a day are dying,” said Vice President Biden, in the attempt to speak out to people. Before he could finish his thoughts, the President interrupted by repeatedly saying “Wrong.”
Eventually there came a point where the Vice President became so annoyed he called the President a clown and told him to “keep yapping man,” even going as far to say that Mr. Trump has been the worst president America has ever had.
The whole ordeal turned into a mess of ad hominem and lies only confusing and angering the American people whom this debate is meant to serve. If you’re a SPASH student who will be voting age by the time of November third I strongly encourage you to cast your ballot. I know I did.
Colby Hintz • Nov 3, 2020 at 9:27 AM
Michael, I really enjoyed how professional this whole article sounded. You made some great points and I really liked all of the adjectives you used to describe the debates. This was very interesting to read, I like how you used quotes from the debates as well.
Madelyn Cheng • Nov 2, 2020 at 4:57 PM
It’s a really great message, to encourage eligible voters. Upholding democracy has never been so important before. Our votes have never mattered so much before and that first debate should be one of our greatest motives to go out and vote.
Breanna Leahy • Oct 30, 2020 at 3:44 PM
Michael, I enjoyed reading this. It really summed up the Presidential Debate when you said that there was a ton of interrupting. I also really like how at the end you tell the readers if they are able to vote to vote, it is really important that if you are able to vote you do so. You did a really good job.