Nayan Shankaran ‘24|Rohith Tsundupalli ‘24
Unprecedented changes in the debating process, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and other factors this year, offered EA students a greater understanding of the presidential candidates’ characters, but ultimately did not affect their opinions on the candidates’ policies.
Following President Donald J. Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis, the Commission on Presidential Debates canceled the second debate and changed the format of the third debate. Further, the Committee mandated plexiglass dividers, social distancing, and sparse crowds in the audience. However, EA students felt that these changes may not have affected their views of each candidates’ policies. Josh Huang ‘22, a student leader of the Political Solutions Club, says that despite the backlash of the first debate and the cancellation of the second, “I do not think the presidential debates have affected the EA community significantly.”
Despite these limitations on the debating process, Madison Belo ‘21, the president of the Black Student Union, observes that “the debates really allowed us to see who [the candidates] are. And that’s what we are meant to see: what are […] they going to be focusing on, what do they want to do, and how are they going to address things that they have done in the past.” By the time they reached the debates, both candidates had already expressed many of their policies and opinions, but their characters became clear over the debating process.
The altered format in the third debate, which allowed moderator Kristen Welker to mute Trump and Biden during interruptions, gave students a better glimpse of both candidates. Jonathan Shanahan ‘21, a student leader of the Young Republicans Club, shares that “all of my friends had watched the first debate, and the general consensus was that it was ridiculous and childish.”
In contrast, Alexander Jimenez, Upper School English teacher and the faculty advisor for the Young Democrats Club, thinks that the third debate format might have improved students’ understanding of the candidates’ platforms. He says that the last presidential debate felt “more civil by comparison” to the first. “It felt muted, restrained by both parties, and it was a bit more informative policy-wise.”
Mercante suggests that presidential debates may not have been as crucial to Biden’s victory as debates in the past have been for former candidates.“This is probably one of the most polarized times in terms of politics in the last thirty years or so, and people have got their minds made up. People are also super engaged right now in the candidate that they support. And so, I’m not sure if the debates are going to influence people’s opinions one way or the other.”