Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump faced off in their first presidential debate on Sept. 10, sparking opinions on the debate’s outcome and what that entailed for their respective campaigns. Anthro Magazine asked the Palo Alto High School community what their reactions and thoughts were regarding the debate.
“She [Harris] seemed to be like, ‘I’m gonna do this’, and she came out with her points whether you agree or disagree. She had her point about what she was going to do, and he [Trump] didn’t seem to have that.” — Katya Villalobos, history teacher
“I thought it was very interesting because [Trump] just kept going off-topic, and he had to get fact-checked so many times by the moderators.” — Isabella Grodnitzky, 11th grade
“It was very different from the debate between Trump and Biden from earlier in the year. I think she [Harris] definitely performed better than Biden did while debating Trump, but I guess we’ll have to see what happens.” — Freya Lyon, 12th grade
“It was very cool to see the debate. You don’t get to see them too often because it happens every four years—so in the same way, I’m excited to see how the actual election goes.” — Miles Allen, 10th grade
“They weren’t really answering the questions, and I don’t think either of them had solid answers to any of the questions. It was mostly just Trump insulting Harris, and the topics that they discussed weren’t as solid as I wanted them to be.” — Xuaner Duan, 10th grade
“Well, I think this election is crucial. It was nice that it [the debate] highlighted important issues like immigration, but they [the candidates] sometimes didn’t really answer the questions that well. It seemed like Harris did better than Trump in that regard.” — Benson Zhou, 12th Grade