Janel England
News Editor
This past Monday, Sept. 26, students from the communications department hosted a viewing event for students at the College of Wooster to watch the first Presidential Debate between Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. The host students began the event a half hour before the actual debate, where they presented fun facts about both candidates and reminded audience members to be respectful of other viewers who might differ in political opinion from them. In addition, they asked for the audience to remain quiet during the debate.
The room, however, was anything but. Throughout the night, the audience—which consisted of well over 100 College of Wooster students and some members of the staff — showed overwhelming vocal support for Clinton.
After the debate, the Voice surveyed students concerning their opinion of how the debate went.
“What we saw from this debate was a very clear and composed Hillary with the singular mission of putting herself as the competent presidential figure on stage. And it definitely worked,” said Jordan Griffith ’19, a registered Democrat. “We saw Trump get visibly flustered at least three times throughout the debate. Hillary kept her cool, didn’t even take a sip of water.”
A more conservative voter, Hannah Buzolits ’17 expressed her first impressions of both of the candidates. “Initially within like the first two minutes, I thought Trump was sounding good. He was calm and was giving some sort of policy recommendation. Something I didn’t expect to see. And I thought Hillary started off really rocky and looked a little nervous.”
However as the debate progressed, her opinions of both of the candidates’ performances altered. “When they both started to respond to each other, it became what I was expecting. Trump being an asshole saying nothing of substance. Hillary eloquently discussing her plans and emphasizing her experience,” said Buzolits. “I do think Trump made some low blows at Hillary but she responded perfectly. In terms of performance I have to give it to Hillary.”
Buzolits expressed discontent with the choice of candidates this election. “It’s really frustrating for me though to watch because I don’t agree with Hillary on some of the issues, and I wish there was a candidate on the Republican side that was taking this seriously and giving actual plans and goals.”
In conclusion, Alice Rietz ’18 said, “It was something.”