Debate - Claire Wootton

This presidential debate was one of the most watched in history, with reason. The candidates and their views are massively different, something that was very clear in the debate. Each had their own strengths and weakness, but overall there was a very clear winner.

One of Clinton’s biggest strengths was her knowledge of topics. She was able to multiple times site facts or studies to back up what she was saying, and had a clear understanding of all the policy issues discussed. However, her clear preparedness was also one of her weaknesses, because at points, especially in the beginning, her words sounded almost scripted. Her poise throughout the debate was also a strength, as a good president needs to remain polite and articulate, even when they are annoyed by what someone else is saying. She lost this poise a few times though by laughing at something he was saying, and this may have lost her respect from people who agreed with what he was saying and wanted to hear her response.

Trump, on the other hand, clearly had much less background knowledge on many of the questions asked, and was unable to give clear responses to some of questions. However, one of his biggest strengths was being able to steer the conversation to something more favorable to him, making less obvious his lack of background knowledge. Another one of his strengths was his ability to counter what Clinton was saying by referencing her political moves in the past, and how they sometimes did not line up with what she was saying. He struggled however, with keeping his statements entirely true, and fact checking done by multiple different sources shows that much of what he said was untrue.

Overall, I think that Clinton was the clear winner of the debate. She demonstrated clear knowledge and understanding of a wide range of topics, was eloquent and professional, and had clear plans for the future - all things I look for in a presidential candidate. Trump had a clear lack of knowledge on certain topics, and really only shone when highlight faults of hers and not strengths of his own.