Shortly after the first presidential debate on Sept. 29, the Commission for Presidential Debates announced that there will be changes to the rules and formatting for the upcoming debates.
The commission also announced that the next debate, set for Oct. 15, will be held virtually. President Trump rejected this and has asked for the debate to be pushed back to Oct. 29.
Many East students from both political parties have strong opinions on what presidential debates should look like and how they should be conducted.
Mac Muehlberger – Senior
Q: Do you feel that the debate last Tuesday was effective in informing voters on each candidate’s policies?
A: “No, I do not feel that it did its job. It did not persuade voters, or more importantly, undecided voters. There was no discussion of policy. It was on each candidate’s character, and that does not help undecided voters.”
Q: Do you think that presidential debates need to change their rules and formatting?
A: “Yes, they’ve needed to be changed for a long time.”
Q: What would you like to see changed in the upcoming presidential debate?
A: “First of all, there should not be live audiences at debates. When you have a live audience in that room, [it] turns into a campaign rally, because candidates are more concerned with getting the crowd riled up. If you look at the Kennedy-Nixon debates where they had no live audience, those [were] excellent debates — two civilized men discussing policy. We shouldn’t have news anchors moderating debates. Personally, I think we should have judges moderate them, or presidents or chancellors of colleges. We need scholars and people with an understanding of the law. And lastly, muting mics when it is not your turn to speak.”
Charlie Birt – Senior
Q: Do you feel that the debate last Tuesday was effective in informing voters on each candidate’s policies?
A: “I think that it was not as effective as it should have been. I think that compared to the 2016 Republican primary debates or the 2020 Democratic primary debates, they were a lot more effective at demonstrating what each candidate believed and their values. This was more of a highly politicized event that could have been more of a detriment to some of the qualities of our country and qualities of our unity. They needed to cover more topics that are important to Americans. They were constantly interrupting each other, calling each other names and that is not what I would like to see from a presidential debate.”
Q: Do you think that presidential debates need to change their rules and formatting?
A: “I don’t necessarily think that they should change the format if it’s going to be an open discussion, as it was stated to be. I think that it falls upon both of the candidates and the moderator to try to keep it simple. That being said, you [must] have a strong voice. You cannot coward, or be concerned about coming off as rude or soft to one another.”
Q: What would you like to see changed in the upcoming presidential debate?
A: “One thing I don’t want to see happen is muting microphones. That is not what America needs. If a moderator makes the decision to mute one candidate while the other is speaking, it essentially forms the debate around the opinions of the moderator. That is not a good thing, because if the moderator has even the slightest bit of bias, they’re going to mute one candidate over another. Additionally, it really isn’t the role of the moderator to silence one candidate or another. because if a person is going to interrupt constantly or call names to another, then the American people should hear that.”
Emmett Liljegren – Senior
Q: Do you feel that the debate last Tuesday was effective in informing voters on each candidate’s policies?
A: “I do not think it was effective. I think that neither candidate really got to speak on their issues, and they just got interrupted and interrupted. It wasn’t effective for me.”
Q: Do you think that presidential debates need to change their rules and formatting?
A: “Just for this election, since Donald Trump proved that this format of debate would not work for him. I feel it would be more beneficial for the American people if the format were changed.”
Q: What would you like to see changed in the upcoming presidential debate?
A: “I think that we should have strict time limits. You get two minutes, the other person can’t talk and their microphone is muted. I think that is really important. I also think that, particularly for COVID, masks should be required for the audience because some people weren’t wearing them. Other than that, I think the moderator did a good job, and they just need stricter rules on the time limits for speaking.”
Ethan Riscovallez – Senior
Q: Do you feel that the debate last Tuesday was effective in informing voters on each candidate’s policies?
A: “I think it was much less policy driven and much more personal. The questions were about policy, but the answers were one word about policy, and then the rest was just attacking the [other] candidate. I mean, some of the attacks on each other were valid. But the majority, I feel, were just personal attacks. Even if you are going to attack somebody for a policy that they supported, you still should say why your policy is better.”
Q: Do you think that presidential debates need to change their rules and formatting?
A: “Yes, but I don’t know exactly what I want changed. I just feel that 12 years ago when Obama and McCain were debating, there wasn’t the same amount of tension that there is in politics now. I feel like political discourse nowadays is so hard for just like a congressional debate for our local district to go smoothly without personal attacks and stuff like that.”
Q: What would you like to see changed in the upcoming presidential debate?
A: “Well, I would really like for them to start including third parties in the presidential debates. I mean they want young people to vote [and including other parties] would appeal to non-voters, but they are denied the opportunity to even hear these [candidates] speak. I think the only time a third party candidate was at a [presidential] debate [was in 1992] when Ross Perot debated George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton. These two parties are just scared of any real, new innovative ideas and that’s why they work so hard to keep third parties off the ballot and off the debate stage.”
Tyler DeBey – Senior
Q: Do you feel that the debate last Tuesday was effective in informing voters on each candidate’s policies?
A: “No, I don’t. Both candidates were talking over each other, and not letting each other finish their allotted time to speak. It would just devolve into arguing, and any talk of policy was lost because you were so focused on their arguing.”
Q: Do you think that presidential debates need to change their rules and formatting?
A: “Yes. The last debate was a mess. Both need to respect the time given to talk. If they don’t, their mics should be cut or something along those lines. Also, the moderator could maybe have a little more power to have control over the debate. [That way] they don’t have to yell to be heard.”
Q: What would you like to see changed in the upcoming presidential debate?
A: “I would like to see a little more caution about [COVID-19] at the debate, like putting masks on directly after the debate or something else like that. I also would like to see the candidates have a little more respect for each other and not fight like children.”