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In less than a year, this nation will elect a new president. But, before Election Day, campaigns need to run and the Democratic and Republican parties must select their nominees. The campaigns may consist of many attack ads, speeches and debates.
Megan Ferguson, a senior diplomacy and international relations major, said that the debates are important for laying a foundation for their campaigns.
The main purpose of these debates is for the nation to understand each candidate’s views.
Ferguson, as a member of the Brownson Speech and Debate Team, said that debate skills are
really important, as was confidence and passionate intelligence.
Not only do they establish campaigns, but Ferguson said debates break media narratives surrounding candidates.
“I am frustrated the debates do not offer more concrete, realistic policy solutions to our problems,” she added. “As young adults, watching these debates are particularly important.”
There were eight primary participants in the latest Republican debate and only three primary participants in the last Democratic debate.
In order to elevate their own popularity and views, Ferguson explained that candidates tend to
attack the premise of questions when confronted by questions exposing their weaknesses.
Vincent Santore, a junior business information technology management and catholic studies dual major, said that the louder mouths get more of the headlines.
Santore added that the candidates are focusing on the issues, but each individual candidate will push the issues that they personally believe in the most to the forefront of their campaign.
Due to this tendency, Ferguson explained that it’s important to pay attention to the clear, emotional and logical arguments made by the candidates.
There will be debates in the future, but clear frontrunners have emerged. In recent polls, Donald Trump is slightly edging out neurosurgeon Ben Carson for the GOP nomination, while former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is maintaining a lead over the insurgent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders for the Democratic nomination.
Zachary Wohl can be reached at zachary.wohl@student.shu.edu.
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