First Presidential Debate

By Felicia Zheng

Historically, presidential debates have been a place for candidates to prove themselves to the American people. In some races, a debate has a significant impact on the polls. In most, they seem to only affirm what voters already know. This year, with an election season that has already broken precedents and promises to be the strangest one yet, it remains to be seen if the debates will make a difference. Many speculate that voters have already made their decisions, that “undecided” voters are rare and few this year. Others suggest that the race is much too close to call, and both candidates still have time to sway voters.

All of these topics and questions were chosen by the moderator, Chris Wallace.

The Supreme Court

After the death of Justice Ginsburg, debates have arisen over who should choose her replacement. If a conservative justice replaces the liberal Ginsburg, it will put the court at a 6-3 skew in favor of conservatives, likely for the next few decades. The decisions that the court is set to vote on soon, including a lawsuit seeking to overturn the Affordable Care Act, have a monumental impact on our lives. A report from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel stated that enrollment in BadgerCare Plus, a state Medicaid program, hovers around 862,000 people. Health insurance is an issue on many people’s minds as the COVID-19 pandemic swept through our communities.

Trump’s stance was that he should appoint the next justice because Republicans hold the Senate and White House. He called Ms. Barrett a “phenomenal nominee, respected by all top, top academic. Good in every way”. In response to the controversy over Trump choosing a nominee so close to the election, when Obama’s nominee in 2016, Merrick Garland, was barred from consideration because it was an election year, Trump said “They had Merrick Garland, but the problem is they didn’t have the elections so they were stopped. [...] So we won the election and we have the right to do it.”

Biden’s response was “the American people have a right to have a say to who the Supreme Court nominee is.” As early voting has already begun in many states, he expressed that whoever won the election should get to fill the seat. Biden speculated that Trump’s plan is to confirm Justice Barrett, who then will strike down the Affordable Care Act and other decisions like Roe v Wade, and said that 100 million people with pre-existing conditions would have their healthcare taken away.

Covid-19

The coronavirus pandemic has been an unavoidable part of our lives in the past few months. To this day, it has infected millions of people in the United States alone, and the death toll has climbed above 200,000. In Wisconsin alone, there have been over 130,000 cases. Recently, WKOW reported a record high number of people hospitalized from the virus in Dane county and these numbers likely will continue to rise as the weather gets colder and people gather indoors. The next president’s plan for combating covid-19 and dealing with the aftermath will have far reaching effects on our lives, including plans for student education, reviving the economy, replacing lost jobs, and more.

Biden admonished Trump’s pandemic response, saying “He knew it was a deadly disease. [...] then he waited and waited and waited. He still doesn’t have a plan.” He contrasted the president’s response to his own, claiming that he had a plan laid out. A part of this plan is providing more protective gear and money to get businesses and schools open. Biden then goes on to encourage people to trust the scientists, not the Trump administration, on a vaccine. He then discussed the topic of safety during rallies, saying “He has been totally irresponsible the way in which he has handled the social distancing, and people wearing masks, basically encouraged them not to.”

Trump went on the offensive, blaming China and claiming other countries have not disclosed truthful statistics. He defended his pandemic response, saying that he closed the country early and took the appropriate steps to provide gear to people. Trump also said that a vaccine would be available to the public much sooner than the timeline laid out by Dr. Redfield, the head of the CDC and Dr. Saloui, head of Operation Warp Speed. He then goes on to say that the disease is dangerous only to older people with preexisting conditions(there have been health complications in patients of all ages). On the topic of rallies, President Trump said that large gatherings are ok outside(please check your location guidelines on outdoor gatherings).

Economy

Many people are understandably worried about the economic impact of the pandemic. The next president will oversee the rebuilding of the economy, and decide what government assistance is needed to alleviate unemployment and other financial hardships. In Wisconsin, the leisure and hospitality sector has faced losses. Economically, recovery is relatively steady, but being hurt by growing case numbers. National leadership is needed to address newly unemployed workers and help out struggling businesses.

Trump stood by his previous stances, saying “we build the greatest economy in history”, and was angry that “we closed it down because of the China plague.” He went on, saying that the economy is being reopened and doing record business, putting millions back into a workforce. The president then commented on his opponent and the Democratic party, claiming that they want to close the economy down to hurt Trump’s chances of reelection. He continued, comparing quarantine to prison and stating that it drives up divorce and alcoholism rates.

Biden condemned the wealthy, saying that they have been the ones profiting from COVID. He spoke directly to the people, telling them that Trump’s policies would not help middle class Americans. Then, he discussed Trump’s record, saying “he’s going to be the first president in the United States to leave office [with] fewer jobs in his administration than when he became president.” He continued, praising front line workers and questioned Trump’s ability to care for America and overcome coronavirus. When asked about this tax plan, he cited an analysis done by Wall Street firms, saying that he would create 7 million more jobs and 1 trillion dollars in economic growth.

Race Relations

Race has been a brewing issue in the nation for many years, but the death of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor ignited protests all over America this summer. Although Wisconsin is not very racially diverse, with black Americans making up just 6% of the population, this state has been under scrutiny after the shooting of Jacob Black and subsequent attacks during protests in Kenosha. It is clear that Wisconsin still has a long way to go on the issue of race.

Biden advocated for “equity and equality”, saying that it was a matter of defending the Constitution and requiring equity for everyone. He condemned President Trump’s reaction to a white supremacist rally that turned violent in Charlottesville and when he used tear gas to disperse peaceful protestors in order to access a church for a photoshoot. The former vice president then went on to say that Trump has only wanted to divide people, and that he has not helped African Americans at all during his term in office. Biden detailed his plan, which included holding “bad apples” in the police department accountable and calling a meeting for both civil rights leaders and police representatives to find a solution. He upheld racial sensitivity training, and defended it with “people have to be made aware of what other people feel like[...] it makes a big difference.”

Trump fired back with a reference to a crime bill supported by Biden in 1994, and accused him of hurting the AFrican American population. He then defended his record, saying that he is doing well in polls and has the support of some military leaders and law enforcement. The president stuck to a clear message, saying that he is for “law and order”. He later condemned racial sensitivity training, calling it a “radical revolution taking place [...] all over the place.” and saying “they were teaching people to hate our country.”

Climate Change

With fires sweeping across states in the western and middle United States, and a historic number of hurricanes at our shores, it is no wonder that the candidates were asked to address climate change. While Wisconsin does not face the large scale wildfires of California or hurricanes, climate change has affected us in different ways. We are seeing shorter winters and longer mosquito seasons, -----

Trump began by saying that he wants to improve forest management and stands by his decision to pull America from the Paris Climate accords. When directly asked to comment on the science of climate change and whether human pollution and gas emissions contributed, he said “I think a lot of things do, but I think to an extent yes.” He went on to talk about forest management and how he would like us to emulate the policies of European forest cities. Wallace pressed on, asking him about the repeal of the Obama Clean Power Plan and relaxing fuel economy standards. Trump replied that they were increasing energy prices and that low standards made little difference.

Biden claimed that he would bring down the price of renewable energy to equal or cheaper than coal, increase the number of electric vehicles and charging stations, weatherize 4 million buildings, and get to net zero energy production by 2035. He also said that this would create, not destroy, well-paying jobs and make the infrastructure green. When asked about balancing environmental interest and economic interests and the price of the proposed policies, Biden defended his plan, saying that it would create jobs and minimize the money spent on natural disaster relief. He also said that the Green New Deal is not his plan.

Election Integrity

This year is unprecedented for the number of people who will be voting by mail. Although mail-in voting has not been credibly accused of fraud and is common practice for many, there still have been questions raised over the integrity of this year’s election. The American people’s faith in a fair and free election is vital to a peaceful transfer of power and continuation of our democracy.

Biden defended mail-in ballots, citing the fact that the military and President Trump both vote in this way. He then encouraged viewers to vote early and by whatever means they can. Candidate Biden made a decisive statement that he would accept a loss as the outcome of the election.

President Trump began his statement by accusing Democrats, included is previous opponent Ms. Clinton and former President Obama, of illegal activity. He then called the ballots a “disaster” and spoke about incidents of ballot fraud (the instances referenced were investigated and found to not have affected the election). Mr. Trump also said that he wants results on election night, and predicted that we would not know the results for “months” (while mail in voting is expected to not produce results Nov. 3, we will know them within days as states finish counting) He did voice support for solicited ballots. A notable statement of the night is that Mr. Trump called on his supporters to “go into the polls and watch very carefully”. This is controversial because citizen poll watching has historically been a voter intimidation tactic (elections do have government appointed poll watchers).