The Biden-Trump Debate: What Young Voters Thought About the First Presidential Debate
Samuel Larreal
This story was co-written by two of Teen Vogue's 2024 Student Correspondents, a team of college students covering the election cycle from key battleground states.
On Thursday night, the two presumptive 2024 presidential nominees faced off in a debate for the first time this campaign season.
At watch parties in Miami and Phoenix, young Americans expressed both apathy and deep concern about the election while watching President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump face off in CNN's Atlanta studios.
After a rambling debate that left no clear-cut winner, young voters tell Teen Vogue they feel left on their own in this election, with no real option that represents their vision for the future.
The Miami Freedom Project provided a nonpartisan space at the Center for Black Innovation, a co-working and community-development space in downtown Miami, bringing together a small crowd of people of diverse ages and backgrounds. Candidate preference differed among attendees, but most shared a sense of discouragement and alienation. Many in the crowd were especially concerned with CNN’s lack of live fact-checking, Biden’s reduced demeanor and lack of engagement, and Trump’s unwillingness to clearly answer questions about Ukraine, the Gaza war, or climate change.
Local progressive organization Progress Arizona mobilized people at the McKinley Club, a co-working space to learn more about digital advocacy, as the current election cycle presses on through primary races. Students were animated for the duration of Trump’s abortion-misinformation tirade, and then shrieked and shook their heads when he used “Palestinian” as a racist slur toward Biden, who “falsely claimed that every party but Hamas has agreed to his cease-fire proposal” for the Gaza war, according to Al Jazeera’s live blog. And, as Grist reported, a few young folks left the watch party before both candidates evaded a question about whether they’d do anything to address the climate crisis.
Read on to hear more from the attendees.
Miami
“It’s a bit frustrating from either — whatever [side of the political spectrum] you live on. It's a little disappointing to see that these are the options that we have representing our country," says Melissa Lopez, a Miami local working in politics. “I don't think either is a good representation for our country.”
“Biden, last time he ran, [suggested] that he was going to be a one-term candidate. I feel like this was just the letdown…. He should have just been a one-term candidate,” says Carolina Hidalgo-McCabe, a recent college graduate and a volunteer with the Miami Freedom Project.
Hidalgo-McCabe adds, “We're at a time where we're all talking about ‘democracy is on the line.’ Let's think about it seriously: If we really don't want to lose democracy, what are the tools in our toolbox as Americans that we can use?”
“They just both commit atrocities, and then don't reply to critiques,” says Emily Gutierrez, who’s currently looking for a job in community development in Miami. “I think Biden's performance has been what everyone expected. It's really deeply discouraging in the way that he, like, hides behind talking about Israel.”
“I'm picking the lesser of two evils,” says Dami Fakoya, who works as a health insurance agent. “There's just a lot of issues that they're not addressing. Like when it came to Israel, and Ukraine, I don't feel like they really hit on what's important.
“I feel like Biden makes good points. But I know, like, the way he seems, people don't feel he's confident in what he's saying,” Fakoya explains. “Even though Trump is saying a lot of things that don't make sense, he's able to say it clearly.
“You have a piece of power. It may not feel like it, but you know, at the end of the day, the House of Representatives is gonna vote, the Senate is gonna vote,” Fakoya says. “We actually have the tools and resources to be able to speak up. We shouldn't take that for granted.”
“I saw two very old men competing against one another. And, you know, I guess that's okay. It's democracy,” says Jonathan Blackmon, an assistant professor at a Florida HBCU. “I noticed the decline of not just President Biden but of former President Donald Trump in their ability to kind of get at one another. They're old. People like to talk up Biden's age being 81, but Trump is about three years younger than him, and you can really see it.
“I think, regardless of who wins the presidency, it's really going to start to show, especially in the latter half of either of their presidencies, " Blackmon says, adding, “I don't know if either of them would make it to the end of their term.”
“I don't really judge it based off this debate alone,” says Frantz Paul, a Miami-based engineer. “A lot of it's for show. I kind of judge based off policy and the underlying things that happen in politics, so I didn't really take too much from this.”
Phoenix
“Everything [former] President Trump says is a lie. It’s not new for him,” says Cameron Adams, 24, an Arizona State University graduate who works for a congressional campaign. “They’re both older men, and there’s challenges that come with that for President Biden. But I think if you really listen to what they’re actually saying, if you’re a young woman in this country and you care about the right to an abortion, protecting democracy… It’s clear that there’s only one choice, and it’s President Biden.
“I think the response about the January 6 insurrection was really telling as well," Adams continues. "The way that Trump just completely shifts, tries to shift, the blame on anyone else when we all know that it was his doing. Knowing that things like that can just keep happening if he were to be elected again is scary to me.”
“It's a classic tactic: Anytime someone's coming in as the challenger of the president, the common tactic is just blame everything on the opposing side," says Darko Paravac, 27, a Progress Arizona volunteer. "And that's all [Trump] ever did. It's just easier for him to go deflect and just ruin Biden's reputation instead.
“The whole idea that somehow it's a benefit to Black voters that [Trump]'s going to deport immigrants, somehow, because they're taking their jobs? That to me is just so asinine, goes against so many things that this country stands for," Paravac continues. "And I think it's just an easy way for him to get minorities to clash with each other. That way there's a lot of infighting; it takes away from the main issues that he's contributing to.
“I think they need to keep them more on the point. It got really annoying, the fact that they would have the question prompt below, and [the candidates] were not talking about it at all.… They should have been more strict on [the candidates] to stay on topic,” says Paravac.
“The big issue was there was no live fact-checking," Paravac notes. "I thought there would be, so I feel like there should have been — anytime someone said anything, especially Trump — there should have been just a big red bar that says ‘I am a liar’ or ‘This is a lie.’ Something like that. That would’ve helped a lot.
“I would like younger candidates.… I wish there'd be more just sticking to the actual issues at hand that really affect people, [rather] than just demonizing people," Paravac explains, "which I think, that's just what always happens in these kinds of debates. I really don't know if this changed anybody's mind or just cemented what we already knew was going to happen with the presidency,” says Paravac.
“The biggest issue for me that I did not even think was gonna get brought up, actually, was the genocide going on in Palestine right now,” says Quin Quinlan, 23, a senior at Northern Arizona University. “The fact that not only was, like, no time spent debating it or talking about it, it was just kind of five minutes of fear mongering and disinformation.… That was really upsetting, I think, especially how quickly they moved on from it too.
“There were so many questions that were posed, and not a single question was actually answered,” Quinlan notes. “It's clear that there are a lot of very real issues that people are concerned about, especially young people — maybe it's their first time getting involved in the election. And both of these candidates want to spew fear and hate in their own different way. So yeah, I will say I'm a little disappointed that Biden didn't straight-up call out Trump's lies more too. Everything out of [Trump’s] mouth was a lie.
“These are literally the people who decide your livelihood. These are the people who make decisions about if you have control over your own body, if you qualify for benefits, if you're allowed to go to college. And when it's so obvious that they don't care about people and that our democracy is being attacked, every single month in different states and wherever, I think that people watch it as a way to cope almost,” Quinlan continues. “I think a lot of people who, if that was their first presidential debate or maybe this is the first election they're voting in, might actually feel quite discouraged.… I didn't think it could get worse, and now I'm seeing it get worse.”
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Originally Appeared on Teen Vogue
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