By Damariz Arevalo, Sep. 24, 2024
On Sept. 10, students were invited to watch the 2024 presidential debate by Cal Poly Pomona communications and political science departments.
The debate brought over 6.74 million viewers between the ages of 18 and 34, according to Nielsen.
Students discussed prior to the debate on why they are watching it and for many students, including electrical engineering student Andrew Gordan, this election is the first time they have engaged in politics.
“I haven’t really been very politically active, but now that I’m a freshman coming to college and on my own, I feel like it’s an important time,” Gordon said. “It’s a great transitionary period to get into it, sort of understand my own political environment.”
Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump faced each other for the first time since President Joe Biden withdrew from the race after the first presidential debate in June.
ABC News journalists David Muir and Lindsey Davis moderated the debate, providing live fact-checking while keeping time. The debate began with Muir asking Harris and Trump if Americans are better off now than they were four years ago.
Harris responded by speaking about her personal experiences being raised as a middle-class American and briefly shared details about her economic plan, which she called an “Opportunity Economy.” It includes an extended child tax credit of $6,000 and giving $50,000 tax deductions to startup small businesses.
Trump also responded, speaking briefly about tariffs, a tax on products that go from one country to another, and how inflation has been “the worst America has ever seen”, criticizing the Biden-Harris administration. Trump continued, saying that millions of people are entering the United States from prisons, jails, mental institutions and mental asylums.
Students wanted to know how Harris or Trump can benefit the American people on taxes and lowering the prices of inflation according to Ryan Aguirre, an electrical engineering student.
Both candidates attacked each other’s previous policies, and one moment when Trump criticized Harris’ changing views incited laughter from the students watching the debate.
“She has no policy,” Trump said. “Everything that she believed three to four years ago is out the window. She’s gone to my philosophy now. In fact, I was going to send her a MAGA hat.”
Political science student, Angelina Priesto critiqued the debate for not being as policy focused and she wanted to see a professional setting rather than insulting each other back and forth.
The moderators brought up the topic of abortion, which was influential to Garion Payne, an electrical engineering student stated that abortion is prevalent in people’s mind right now.
When Trump was asked about the topic of abortion, he made the false claim that abortion happens in the ninth month of pregnancy and beyond according to Trump repeat false claimby NPR.
“Former governor of West Virginia said that we will decide what to do with a baby, in other words, we’ll execute the baby,” Trump said. “Her vicepresidential pick says abortion in the ninth month is fine.”
After Trump finished speaking, Davis fact-checked him. “There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it’s born,” Davis said.
After the overturn of Roe v. Wade, there are 20 states with abortion bans that make it a crime for a doctor or a nurse to provide abortions, and there are no exceptions for incest or rape, according to women’s health policyby KFF the independent source for health policy research, polling and news.
Harris expressed disdain for these bans and discussed the impact she has seen as vice president.
“A survivor of a crime, violation to their body and not having a right to make a decision about what happens to their body, that is immoral,” said Harris. “The government and Donald Trump should not be telling women what to do with their body.”
The debate continued with a discussion of immigration and border security. Muir shared that “illegal border crossing reached a record high during the Biden administration” and asked what she would do differently.
Harris responded first, discussing a bipartisan security bill she supported as a prosecutor that would haveadded 1,500 more border agents on the border to control the flow of fentanyl entering the U.S. She blamed Trump for it not passing, claiming he lobbied for it not to pass because he would prefer to “run on a problem rather than fix a problem.”
Trump responded by blaming Harris for millions of immigrants coming to the country, which sparked a viral moment when he mentioned immigrants in Aurora, Colorado and Springfield, Ohio.
“They’re eating the dogs, they’re eating the cats, they’re eating the pets of the people,” Trump said.
Springfield City Manager Bryan Heck, fact checked Trump by confirming there is no evidence of people eating cats and dogs.
Students watching the debate started laughing at Trump’s response, but professors were uneasy. Assistant professor of political science Marcos Scauso believes both sides need to be fact-checked prior to accusing each other.
“Both sides calling each other liars without a possibility of fact-checking in real time, the two who are blatantly lying,” said Scauso.
Next came the topic of foreign policy and the Israel-Hamas war. Harris stated that there must be security for the Israeli people and Israel and in equal measure for the Palestinians.
“Israel has a right to defend itself,” Harris said. “It is also true, far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed. What we know is that this war must end. It must end immediately, and the way it will end is we need a ceasefire.”
Harris also accused Trump of being manipulated by dictators and authoritarian leaders, such as Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky, since Trump has shown his well-established friendships with them.
Trump responded about Harris hating Israel, claiming his tactics were part of an efforts to negotiate trade deals, and it had resulted in economic gains and improved national security.
The debate ended with Trump’s closing statement, and it followed with a discussion among students giving their analyses of Harris and Trump’s body language and doing more personal attacks instead of giving detailed policy proposals with the lack of fact-checking.
“Harris was listening to everything Trump said,” said Andrew Gordon, an aerospace engineering student. “She was looking at him whenever he was talking and nodding along and comprehending things. Trump, most of the time, was either making strange faces or staring off into the void.”
Trump announced he will not have another debate with Harris. The upcoming U.S. vice presidential debate between Democratic Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota and GOP Sen. JD Vance of Ohio will occur Oct. 1.
Feature Image by Jerry Sanchez