‘Who do you think won and why?’: UO reacts to tonight’s presidential debate
‘Donald conducted himself much better than I was expecting’
Millions tuned in to the presidential debate between Democratic nominee Hilary Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump tonight, and the candidates gave the audience some serious Monday evening entertainment.
Each party had a different opinion from guns to jobs for Americans, and it became… spirited, to say the least.
Just 42 days before America will decide who will take office for the next four years, voters are outraged with each party and have their own perspective as to who did better in the dual.
We asked Oregon students attending a watch party who they thought came out victorious:
Camila Alvaiez, Graduate student, and PHD candidate in Sociology
“Hilary won because she knows her stuff.”
Jay Charland, First year Professional Journalism Master’s Student
“I thought that Hilary Clinton had more of substance to say, but I think that Donald did a better job of playing to his base. I’m basing this off of audience reaction but I feel like he knows what he needs to say to his supporters and his messages are more straightforward, less nuanced, and less complicated than Mrs. Clinton.
“I think based on the lower bar, the simplicity of it and audience reaction, he did a better job of hitting the points that he needs to hit with his supporters.”
Denver Garcia, Master’s Program
“I think Hilary gave the best answers but Trump played into his supporters. I think that for the Trump supporters, he told them everything they wanted to hear, which is what you want to do in the debates. I’m not sure – for the crowd that Hilary wants to win over – if this is enough to get them to vote for her, not their party, which has become a big issue. I think that her solutions to the problem are much more specific on Trump who is very big on repetitive language.
“He is also very rude in how he butted in and said “that’s false” and “she never did that”, and I don’t think much of that. That’s why I would say the problem with presidential debates is people usually made up their minds, especially this one. I think Donald conducted himself much better than I was expecting.”
Bill Harper, Journalism Graduate Student, Master’s Program
“I think she was because I think that people have a pretty good idea of what America is and they don’t like it when people interrupt they way he did – it was disrespectful that he did as much as he did.”
Bethany Howe, Second-year PHD student
“I wouldn’t disagree with what anyone else said, but what I guess what I would reflect on is that he played to his base and his problem isn’t his base, his problem is increasing his base. I don’t know if I saw anything tonight that’s going to bring anyone away from Hilary or bring Johnson Libertarians, or Green Party to his side. What I thought I saw was maybe there are reasons now why people that may have been uncomfortable with her might not feel that way. I think both of them preserved the status quo, but I think she did better in terms of broadening her base.”
Cole Asman-Prudell, Undeclared
“I think presidential candidate Clinton made the best impression during the debate but mostly due to Trump’s bad responses and unreliable claims. Trump also blundered on his responses in the end and was disrespectful to the debate mediator. Although, on both sides there was little progress in talking about policies to fix actual issues.”