Joshua Smith – editor in chief
The Pitt State College Republicans and the Crawford County Young Democrats both held presidential debate watch parties down the hall from each other in the Overman Student Center on Sept. 10. This debate between Republican, former President Donald Trump and Democrat, current Vice President Kamala Harris gave watchers the first chance to see these two candidates interact after an election cycle full of twists. The two watch parties were vastly different, both in size and atmosphere. The Republicans maxed out at roughly 45 attendees and was mostly calm except for the occasional laughter, groans, or boos. The Democrats, however, maxed out at roughly 11 participants, but were loud, frequently erupting into laughter and shouting at the screen like a showing of “Rocky Horror Picture Show.” Throughout interviews at both watch parties, while the level of enthusiasm and reasons for support varied from person to person, one commonality among all five of those interviewed was the view that they had not learned anything new, and their views were not changed.
At the Republican watch party, despite the large turnout, the party was relatively quiet and respectful. Most were focused on the debate, while a small number of students could be seen multi-tasking with homework.
Two students sitting in the back, Anna Clough, a freshman pre-med biology major, and Gracie Chandler, a freshman wildlife biology major, gave their thoughts as first-time voters.
Clough said, “We didn’t have much to do, so we wanted to come out to support and have fun, and we want Trump to win.” Chandler followed up, “I wanted to watch the debate because I want to see both sides of it, but still, I’d like Trump to win. I’m not the biggest personal fan of Trump, but I feel like he made a great president. He made great decisions for our country, and I agree with his ideals on abortion and immigration.” Clough said, “I want to vote for him because I don’t agree with taxing the rich. They worked hard for that money.”
When asked about their thoughts on the debate before the first commercial break, Clough and Chandler spoke on their views of the truthfulness of the statements being made.
Clough said, “Harris is saying a bunch that isn’t necessarily true, like that Trump wanted them to storm the Capital; he didn’t want that to happen, that’s just what a group of people did.” Chandler added, “She used a comparison for abortion that was one in a million, when (in most) abortions, they very well could have and support a baby. They just choose not to. But they’re both making some points that are not quite true.” Clough said, “They’re both going back and forth, but they’re not hearing what each other are saying.”
Republican voter, Kordell Webb, a junior studying construction management, expressed a more pessimistic view of the candidates for his second election cycle.
Webb said, “In the Biden-Trump election, I voted for Trump. If I could have a different candidate, I would definitely take someone else, but he’s the best we’ve got right now. I don’t want to say lesser of two evils, but it kind of is to me.” Webb later went from the Republican watch party to the Democrat watch party after the second commercial break, the only attendee (other than Collegio staff) to have visited both parties that night.
Moving to the Democrat watch party, the debate was treated more like a game. Even though they had less than a quarter of the Republican attendance, the audience itself was more of an active part of the experience. They shouted at the screen with insults for Trump and affirmations for Harris, while playing debate bingo.
Voting defensively, Kay Kraybill, a senior majoring in tech-ed, spoke on the importance of protecting public education. Kraybill is also the State Secretary for Aspiring Educators, the student branch of Kansas National Education Association, the teachers’ union here in Kansas.
“The future of our country is public education, and because I’m student-teaching next semester, it’s important to me personally to be involved with this election.” Kraybill said. “A huge part of what’s in danger is public education. This will be my second election; I think I’ve become more disillusioned with the party system as a whole since the last election.”
David Su, a member of Crawford County Young Democrats and member of the Pittsburg community, gave his view on the difference in enthusiasm between the 2020 and 2024 election cycles.
“I was excited to see how the debate would go.” Su said. “So far, it’s been really refreshing to watch compared to the previous debate. This is my second election. For me personally, it felt like the 2020 election boiled down to choosing the lesser evil as opposed to choosing a candidate. That’s the major difference between the 2020 and 2024 election cycles. It feels like there’s a lot of positive energy around the Harris campaign and support for her as a candidate rather than supporting the Democratic Party.”
Both sides claimed their candidate won the debate, but the Republicans vocalized their feelings that Trump was unfairly in a three-on-one fight with ABC’s moderators “helping” Harris.
Vice President of the Pitt State College Republicans, Jonathan Adam said, “A moderator is a neutral participant there to keep the debate organized and on topic. While asking questions is part of their (job), fact checking is not.” While President of the Pitt State College Republicans, Zeke Spieker added, “The moderators did a horrible job. Their ‘fact-checks’ against President Trump were false.”
At time of writing, leadership at Crawford County Young Democrats had not responded to requests for comment on the moderation.
The New York Post and Fox News both count that Trump was fact-checked by the moderators five times “while Harris was left alone.” After the debate, ABC along with other publications did put out articles showing false and misleading statements from both candidates.
