Sophomore, Noah Lauring, watched insults and cutting words flying back and forth through the air. This wasn’t a debate for him anymore — it was a showdown.
The presidential debate began at 9 p.m. on Sept. 10, 2024. The debate between Vice President Harris and former President Trump took place at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia and was hosted by ABC News. This event had no live audience and aired on ABC News Live, Disney+ and Hulu. The debate length was set at 90 minutes.
While the debate proceeded without opening statements, the campaign staff were not allowed to converse with their candidate during commercial breaks. Harris and Trump delved into the debate in the absence of opening statements. The candidates were given two minutes to respond to a question and an additional two minutes for a rebuttal. Additionally, the microphone was muted when it was not a candidate’s turn to speak.
Members of the CHS community, including Ellie Robbins, stayed up to watch the debate. Robbins found the debate to be highly entertaining. As she is a junior, Robbins cannot yet vote, however; she finds political debates captivating.
“I think the funniest part was when Trump said that people are eating cats and dogs,” Robbins said. “I watched it because I think that all the debates are pretty interesting and pretty funny sometimes.”
Junior, Lily Jambon, was also interested in the debate. During her government class at CHS, they discussed what happened, and students shared their thoughts on the topics covered.
“People were talking about how Trump was babbling on about the wildest things,” Jambon said. “And how the two candidates were not really answering the questions and going off about other things.”
Beyond the entertainment of the debate, Lauring noticed a significant improvement in the moderation of the debate. He thought that the moderator did a great job of fact-checking the candidates as opposed to the last debate and debates of the past.
“I don’t think that it was a good debate in the sense that there was a good discussion of issues. I don’t think I learned a ton about the candidates that I didn’t already know,” Lauring said. “I don’t think that there is anyone who can watch that debate and say, ‘Okay, now I have a better sense of where these candidates stand on the issues.’”
In the end, this debate marks the beginning of the race for the Electoral College.
