All eyes were on the first 2024 debate between President Biden and former President Donald Trump on Thursday night, but as their ad buys evidenced, both men were focused on appealing to voters in battleground states that are likely to decide the outcome of the election.
The Washington Post spoke to undecided voters in battleground states to get their reactions to the showdown and Biden’s stunning performance.
Nathan Panwani, 36, Phoenix, Arizona, Physician
“Watching Biden yesterday, I think he’s a decent guy and he means well, but that was not the performance I expect from a commander in chief,” said Punwani, who voted for Biden last time.
“His answers were incoherent and did not inspire my confidence.”
He thinks another candidate might become the Democratic nominee.
“The debate has added to the sense of unease in some ways because there may be a new candidate on the Democratic side,” he said. “It’s hard to imagine Biden continuing on this path. It will be more interesting to see who the Democrats choose as his successor in August.”
But Punwani is hesitant to support Trump because he believes he is too divisive. “The ongoing litigation and the events of January 6th make Trump’s image a bit sinister,” he said.
Corey Franke, Nazareth, Pennsylvania, pilot for a major U.S. airline
On the day of the debate, Franke didn’t seem to like either Trump or Biden very much. But after watching the debate, he said, “If you just look at the two of them, things are very clear. Just from the video!”
“We don’t want name-calling, we just want results,” Franke said.
“I don’t care who the worst president was. I don’t really care what their golf score was. I just want my neighbors and my kids to have a better tomorrow than today. I think that’s the clear choice,” he concluded, saying he would vote for Trump.
Kunal Lobo, Tucson, Ariz., recently completed his Ph.D.
Lobo voted for Biden in 2020 and Hillary Clinton in 2016, but is undecided this year.
“I wouldn’t say I loved him, but I liked him a lot,” he said of Biden in 2020, adding that he preferred Andrew Yang and Mike Bloomberg.
Lobo said he thought Biden would be a unifying figure, but the president “ended up being extremely divisive. As Bill Maher said, even if you don’t like Trump, you can’t hate everyone who voted for him.”
He had a mixed reaction to the debate. “I didn’t lean to Biden in the debate, but I didn’t lean to Trump either because there were so many lies,” he said. “Trump didn’t answer the questions and he repeated the same talking points over and over.”
“I’ve moved away from Biden and I’m close to moving away from Trump. I might consider voting a third party.”
Taylor Johnson, 34, Dayton, Ohio, IT worker
Johnson, who has not yet decided how he will vote, said he did not watch the entire debate but did watch some of it and continued watching more on Friday.
“I was a little disappointed to see it, to be honest,” she said. “I was hoping they’d talk about the issues America is facing right now. From what I saw and heard, it was just kids arguing.”
Still, she did reach some conclusions about the candidates.
“I’m also a little concerned about Biden’s cognitive state. He seemed unable to answer questions and was hesitant to answer. Trump sounded better at answering.”
