Debate preferences style over substance as emotional sound bytes trump logic, facts

As the clock struck 8:00 pm on September 10, voters and politicians around the world tuned in to watch as former president Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris took the stage on ABC News for the first presidential debate since Biden’s ill-fated debacle in June that led to Harris taking the wheel. Viewers and constituents alike were eager to hear discussions of current issues and positions on pressing events. 

Aly Niehans, West social studies teacher, summed up the views many Americans shared prior to the debate. 

“There were a lot of feelings going into the debate. There were a lot of questions about how Harris would do and what her positions on things would be since in the past she has been a little hesitant to talk about them,” she said. 

Julie Moss, another member of the West social studies department, feels voters still have reservations regarding Harris.

“People thought they didn’t know Harris, even though she has been vice president for a long time,” she said. “A lot of people wanted to be introduced to her and her policies.”

On the other side of the aisle, Republicans were interested in hearing policy proposals and seeing the interaction between Trump and Harris. 

"Republicans, or people who tend to vote that way, were looking to Trump to focus his performance and hit home some of the issues that are happening in our country,” Niehans said. 

Some of the most prominent topics discussed centered on themes of economic policy, abortion, and immigration. West social studies teacher Patrick Bertram notes that one of the main priorities of Republicans in the debate was addressing illegal immigration. 

“Republicans really wanted to focus on the border and immigration. It’s an area they feel they can win on,” he said. “They felt that during President Trump’s term in office, the ‘Stay in Mexico’ policy and tougher talk was enough to deter people from coming in illegally. They feel they have shown that the Biden-Harris administration has not done as good of a job at the border.” 

In contrast, social issues such as abortion were imperative to Harris’ supporters and were promptly addressed by the vice president. 

“Democrats wanted to focus on things like abortion. One of the things that Trump did was take credit for overturning Roe v. Wade,” said Bertram. “Right now Democrats think that it’s an issue they can win on.”

After the debate concluded, most reviews skewed in Harris’ favor, according to Niehans.

“Democrats and the people who are planning to vote for Kamala in a couple months are feeling quite happy with her performance. She did a much better job than Biden did conveying her feelings about Donald Trump,” she said. “She was pretty successful in staying on that message.”

Even certain Republicans who would typically back Trump were unsure of his performance during the debate. However, there were some who believed it was beneficial for his campaign. 

“In the hours and days after the debate, some people that are typically on Trump’s side came out and said that he didn’t do as well as they had hoped,” Niehans said. “Others were happy with his performance, and thought he called out Biden and Harris for their track record, which for a lot of Americans hasn’t felt super successful.” 

Others still were notably frustrated that the modern debate format appears to be more focused on response to insults than proposal of policy.

“If candidates feel the other person said something negative, they are going to respond to that. Sometimes the question that the moderator asked gets lost in the shuffle,” Moss said.

However, the debate stage has not always been what it is in the modern age. Bertram describes the first televised debate in history during the 1956 election, held between two women representing the presidential candidates. 

“Another major one was a debate by proxy for Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson, where Eleanor Roosevelt was the representative for the Democrats, whose husband was Franklin Delano Roosevelt. She debated [Margaret Chase] Smith, Senator of Maine, for the Republicans,” he said. 

Four years later, Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy participated in a televised debate that showed the prominent effect visual appearance had on political persuasion. 

“In that debate, famously, Nixon did not wear makeup and went on stage. JFK looked younger and more attractive,” Neihans said. “Content-wise, people who were just listening to the debate felt as though Nixon won, but those who were watching the debate felt that JFK had won.”

In addition, debates served a different purpose in a time when the Internet and social media weren’t commodities. It was often the only time Americans could watch presidential candidates speak live, a fact that has been distorted in the digital age. 

“We have such constant access to the news and platforms of the candidates. Candidates have so many more public appearances now, and are just able to travel quicker,” Niehans said. “The only time you could hear about the candidates from their own mouths was to watch the debate.”

Whether there will be another debate before the election is still up in the air, with Trump being unclear on his wishes to debate Harris again. 

“Most people think he won’t debate again. But some people say he changes his mind,” Moss said. “ I guess it’s up to Donald Trump.”

by Phoebe Fletcher

Published October 7 2024

Oshkosh West Index Volume 121 Issue I