Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump met in Philadelphia to face off in their first presidential debate on Tuesday night, eliciting mixed reactions from the University of Mississippi student body.
Pre-debate anticipation
Before watching the debate hosted by ABC, Sydney Robinson, a freshman forensic chemistry major, shared her anticipation and worries.
“It’s going to be an interesting debate that’s for sure. That’s the kind of interaction that a lot of people have been waiting for,” Robinson said. “Part of me is worried that it is going to be less about policy and more about them fighting each other, so I feel like it is going to be very hard to get actual information about the plans that the candidates have.”
Jonea Carter, a freshman allied health studies major, shared similar worries about what could happen during the debate.
“I feel there is going to be a lot of arguing and a lot of personal shots from what I have been seeing on the news and from the candidates’ tours,” Carter said.
Sophomore physics and history major Andrew Hopfer was eager to see what Harris would contributehave to say, expecting chaos to emerge during the candidates’ discourse.
“I’m excited to see what Kamala has to say,” Hopfer said. “It’s going to be her first official debate against Trump, but I do think it’s probably going to be pretty messy.”
Post-debate reactions
After watching the debate, Cass Rutledge, a senior public policy leadership major and chairman of the Ole Miss College Republicans, said that Trump was the victor.
“President Trump obviously won the debate, easily defeating comrade Kamala and fake news ABC, who repeatedly covered Harris-Biden’s repeated failures,” Rutledge said.
Rutledge also shared criticism for Harris and hope for a second Trump presidency.
“Harris offered no explanation for the failing economy, the wide open border and the rampant crime that has all happened under her watch. Meanwhile, President Trump will restore American greatness when he wins this November.”
Calvin Wood, a field organizer with the New Hampshire Democratic Coordinated Harris Campaign, junior public policy leadership major and external VP of UM Democrats, shared his thoughts on Harris’ performance.
“Kamala exceeded my expectations last night with a nearly flawless debate performance,” Wood said. “With such little time to prepare after being thrown last minute into the top of the ballot, I was thoroughly impressed by how prepared, qualified, and confident she appeared on stage.”
Wood said that Harris offered clear policy plans.
“It was refreshing to see someone with concrete policy plans uplift the working class,” Wood said. “The former president was vain, distractible and emotionally unregulated, and the VP put (Trump’s) desperate need for personal validation on full display.”
Robinson shared criticisms for both candidates’ inaccurate claims during the debate.
“A lot of the points that they made weren’t based in truth, which was shown when the reporters had evidence to show the claims they made to be untrue,” Robinson said. “It seemed very unprofessional, and they didn’t seem to rely on particularly reputable sources for the information that they referenced in some of their points.”
Now what?
No plans for another presidential debate have been confirmed, however Vice President Harris has invited former President Trump to a second debate. The vice presidential debate between Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz will be held Oct. 1 in New York City and hosted by CBS.
