Students disappointed after the presidential debate, but firm in their 2024 election stances

Tuesday night, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump met for the first presidential debate. In a survey conducted by Pitt News with nine Pitt students, all participants said that Harris performed better and won the debate. 

“Trump deflected [and] talked about unrelated topics,” Aarushi Hill, sophomore natural sciences major, said. “Kamala talked more about values and policies.” 

Hill was disappointed in Trump’s behavior and simply disliked “the fact that Trump is running for a third term.”

“The main issue of the night was Trump interrupting, not answering questions, spewing false info — especially about immigrants,” Hill said.

Pamela Delgado, junior biology major, said the candidates were not very professional on stage.

“It felt like they were just roasting each other,” said Delgado. “They basically ignored the moderators. Harris focused a bit on her policies, although she bickered with Trump. Trump focused more on attacking Harris.”

Jenna Haldeman, a sophomore chemical engineering major, raised similar concerns regarding the presidential candidates. She said the interruptions and insults were largely unnecessary and distracted from the main idea of the debate. 

“I didn’t like that they would interrupt each other,” Haldeman said. “Trump attacked Kamala a lot, but they both kinda strayed away from answering questions about their policies.”

Haldeman was hoping to learn more about the candidates’ policies and their goals post-election. She was disappointed in the results.

“For me, it was [supposed to be about] plans for what they would do if elected,” Haldeman said, “and it felt like neither had a solid plan.”

Henry Cohen, junior political science and urban planning major, thought Trump’s behavior was tiring. 

“It’s the same old playbook of false accusations, lies and trying to get under his opponents skin,” Cohen, the co-president of College Democrats at Pitt, said. “I’m tired of it, and I think the rest of the country is too.”

In the survey conducted, only one participant said they were less hopeful about the potential results of the election. Cohen said he is hopeful for the future.

“I’m ready to end the Trump era,” said Cohen. “I think what we saw last night is enough to convince the rest of the country to turn the page on his division.”

The debate covered many topics, from Trump’s indictments to the economy, abortion and international conflicts. Megan Gordon, senior accounting major, doesn’t think they talked about the right issues.

“They did not focus enough on climate change,” Gordon said.

Climate change was brought up very few times. Harris claimed that she would not ban fracking, whereas Trump didn’t address climate change, instead focusing on overseas jobs.

Post-debate, the surveyed students said the debate strengthened their idea of who they’d vote for.

“I definitely felt more confident,” Delgado said. 

In the survey, all participants said they learned more about Harris’s policies than Trump’s. There is no second presidential debate scheduled between Harris and Trump, what would be the third presidential debate of this election season. Harris’s team, however, has stated they want another. Trump’s campaign has yet to make a comment.