Students flooded the Nugget Pub and Grill Monday night to watch the first of the three presidential debates leading up to November’s election.
While students ate and drank, they kept their eyes fixed on the large screen, often laughing, cheering and booing at the candidates’ responses to moderator-posed questions.
The debate, which was held at Hofstra University in New York and hosted by NBC’s Lester Holt, had the candidates discussing a wide range of issues, from the economy and national security to race relations and foreign policy.
Early on in the debate, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton coined the phrase “Trump-ed up trickle down economics,” referring to Donald Trump’s economic plan – which would include tax cuts for the wealthy.
During the debate, the Republican nominee said that his economic plan would reduces taxes; however, the Washington Post fact checker found that claim to be false. According to the Washington Post, Trump’s tax plan would raise the federal income tax for more than half of the United State’s single parents and one-fifth of families with children.
In rebuttal, Clinton claimed that her tax plan is reasonable and doable, while Trump’s would have devastating effects.
“Experts have looked at what I’ve proposed, what Donald has proposed. And basically they’ve said this… [Under Trump’s tax plan] we would lose 3.5 million jobs and maybe have another recession,” the former secretary of state said. “My plans [have been reviewed]— and they’ve said ‘OK, we can do this,’ and I intend to get it done. We will have 10 million more jobs because we will be making investments where we can grow the economy.”
Senior film major Arielle Mananquil said that she is still undecided on who she is going to vote for, but how the candidates continue to address economic issues will most likely be the deciding factor.
Graduate student Marcus Jones echoed similar concerns about the economy, particularly about the distribution of wealth.
“It’s hard to pick one issue [that’s the most important to me], but I would say the distribution of wealth throughout the country and how we’re going to bring the lower and middle class up,” he said.
Jones referenced Trump’s discussion of his economic plan during the debate, and said that it lacked clarity and substance.
“I noticed [Trump] hasn’t made any solid plans on how he plans to improve the economy, other than not paying taxes, which makes no sense to me,” he said. “It further supports the fact that I’m not voting for him.”
When asked about race relations within the U.S., each candidate had a very different response.
Clinton said that race often determines where people live, which public schools they go to and the quality of education they receive. Referencing the increasing divide between the police force and the African-American community, she said that more respect is needed between the two groups.
“Everyone should be respected by the law and everyone should respect the law.”
Trump called for an end to violence and a return to law and order.
He also advocated for the controversial “stop and frisk” policy, which was originally implemented in New York City by former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani in the late 1990s.
The policy has been largely criticized by groups such as the New York Civil Liberties Union for its targeting of minority groups, particularly Latinos and African-Americans.
In terms of respect to law and order Trump brought up Clinton’s private email server scandal, calling suspicion to her and her staff’s integrity.
“When you have your staff taking the 5th amendment, taking the 5th, so they’re not prosecuted, when you have the man that set up the illegal sever taking the 5th, I think it’s disgraceful, and believe me this country, really, thinks it’s disgraceful also.”
One issue that wasn’t directly addressed during the debate, but was a concern of psychology graduate student Michelle Frankot, was immigration – particularly the resettlement of refugees.
“… how each candidate treats people who are struggling to get into the country, particularly refugees [is] a reflection on how they will take care of our country and watch out for the well being of our world,” she said.
As the debate ended, students exited the Nugget, discussing the plans, policies and ideas they just spent 90 minutes listening to.
The next presidential debate will be held Oct. 9 at 6 p.m. at Washington University in St. Louis, Mo and will be shown in the Nugget.