The Election Countdown: A look at the final presidential debate
The Election Countdown: A look at the final presidential debate
Emma Valdiserri / Asst. News Editor
The presidential election is just one week away as Americans make their final efforts to vote by mail, vote early, or cast their ballots on election day. Last week, President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden took the stage for the final presidential debate. Now, it’s a matter of time for the American people to determine the results of the election in continuation of this tumultuous year.
The debate took place at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, with NBC’s Kristen Welker as the moderator. It consisted of a 90 minute discussion, covering six separate segments including COVID-19, race, national security, climate change, American families, and political leadership. In consideration of the constant interruptions during the first debate, the final debate called for muting each candidate’s microphone as each of them spoke for their respective two minutes on each topic.
One of USD’s political science professors, Dr. Casey Dominguez, Ph.D., commented on the topic of muting, believing it to be a disappointingly necessary step.
“(It’s) in the interest of the voters,” Dominguez said. “The whole point of a debate is to allow voters to hear how candidates respond to questions and get a sense of their position on the issues (they) care about. So if (there) has to be a mute button, then so be it, but for adults it should not be necessary.”
Normally, USD Votes and the university’s political science department would host debate viewings in Frank’s Lounge and the UC’s with pizza and discussion. In light of current circumstances, the two programs collaborated in a final debate discussion using Discord, a messaging platform where faculty and students had the opportunity to share ideas and ask any debate-related questions.
In comparison to the first debate, the final debate allowed more clarification and less interruption when it came to the discussion of policy. Both debates covered similar topics, triggering similar answers: President Trump laid claim to his success with the economy and Biden instigated his plan to use climate change as an opportunity to create millions of jobs if elected. While both discussions covered policy to a different extent, there were no missed opportunities for the candidates to attack each other based on behavior and policy. President Trump criticized Biden for his lack of achievements as former vice president in regards to criminal justice reform and Biden denounced Trump for his handling of the pandemic.
“I don’t think attacking is necessarily a bad thing. Attacking your opponent on their record and on their policy is a policy discussion,” Dominguez added. “Debates are supposed to be critical, especially against an incumbent; that’s part of the deal.”
Once again, the New York Times ran a live fact-checking system during the debate, classifying a variety of each candidate’s claims as true, false, misleading, exaggerated, or lacking evidence. Beneath each selected statement lies context and analysis supporting the classification.
In regards to race, President Trump said “Nobody has done more for the Black community than Donald Trump. If you look, with the exception of Abraham Lincoln, the possible exception, nobody has done what I’ve done.” This was proven false, placing President Lyndon B. Johnson at the top of the list after passing the Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act, and the Fair Housing Act into legislative effect.
Biden was also proven false when discussing America’s economic relations with China, claiming Trump and his administration have “caused the deficit with China to go up, not down.” However, also in regards to China, Biden was correct in stating that President Trump conducts business with China and has a secret bank account there.
USD alumni, Ryan Gentry, commented on the nature of the final debate and the effects leading up to the election.
“I get the feeling that Donald Trump is playing to his base and then Joe Biden is trying to win over undecided voters, if there even are any of those,” Gentry said. “When they got focused on policy, I think people stopped listening because I think people are trying to watch these debates like how you would want to watch a boxing match with crazy punches thrown. Nobody is tuning in to hear a plan. I think people have made up their minds already.”
The debate took place less than two weeks before the election. Mail-in ballots can take up to two weeks to be received and counted. In this regard, Dominguez commented on the importance of the final debate, despite it being so close to the election and the altered methods Americans are taking to vote.
“We wouldn’t usually expect it to make a difference, but it can make a small difference,” Dominguez said. “I think it’s an important civic tradition. It’s important for public candidates to have to face public questioning when they can avoid it in every other way.”
As the 2020 presidential debates have come to an end, the election is just one week away. At the time of the final debate, nearly 50 million Americans were recorded having cast their ballots. With that said, there are plenty of Americans left to vote and have their voices heard as the controversial status of democracy confronts the nation.