COLIN PERRY
The All-In Challenge continued last night, as students, faculty and community members gathered in the Williams Center Multi-Purpose Room to watch the first televised debate between Democratic candidate for president Hillary Clinton and her Republican counterpart Donald Trump.
While the free food and refreshments seemed like a draw for some, it was hard to ignore the enthusiasm and interest felt throughout the crowd. As the televised countdown clock ticked down the final ten seconds before the debate began, audience members started chanting alongside it.
Vice President for Engagement and Economic Development Kevin Kearns prefaced the debate by encouraging students to “listen, jeer and cheer.” Chair of the Political Science Department David Rankin followed him, encouraging students in particular to pay attention to the race and to see how they may influence ultimately who wins on Nov. 8.
“It’s getting to be a relatively tight race,” Rankin said. “Apparently, your voter group is the one they’re really looking at right now, as [the candidates] realize that a lot of people are thinking about [Libertarian Party nominee Gary] Johnson and [Green Party nominee Jill] Stein, besides these candidates.”
True to Kearns’ word, there was plenty of jeering and cheering in the Williams Center last night.
At multiple points during the debate, audience members in the Williams Center clapped, laughed or made their displeasure at a comment known. One such moment came almost immediately, when Clinton’s red outfit drew laughter as she entered the stage, followed shortly by cheers.
An early exchange indicated where most of the audience’s sympathies lay. Clinton’s introduction of the phrase “Trumped-up trickle-down” to describe her opponent’s economic policies was met with an outburst of clapping and cheering. On the other hand, Trump drew an audibly negative response when he interrupted debate moderator Lester Holt. Shortly thereafter, his answer to a question drew laughs.
As the war of words between candidates raged on, the room remained raucous to the very end and filled with people interested in the political process. Nathan Milroy, a senior political science major and president of the Political Science Association, came out of the debate thinking that Clinton was the obvious victor.
“They talk about the first 15 minutes being really important in these kind of debates, and I thought that, in the beginning especially, Trump was just repeating too many words: ‘good,’ ‘great, ‘beautiful.’ And she was really in the weeds with details, and I thought he sounded ridiculous next to her,” Milroy said.
Even so, it didn’t appear that her stronger performance was enough to sway Milroy to her side.
“I’m a supporter of Gary Johnson,” he said, “so it didn’t make me happy in all areas. I disagreed with [the candidates] in some instances and agreed with them both on different issues.”
While members of the campus received an email last week advertising a planned protest by Johnson supporters, there were no noticeable distractions or signs of protest during the screening.
With the dust settling, it remains yet to be seen how the first debate will affect the presidential race moving forward. The ALL In Challenge will continue on at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 4, with a screening of the vice presidential debate.