Debate reaction: What SDSU students, professor say

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO/AP) — Voters locally and across the country now know what it looks and sounds like to have both current Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump on the same stage together.

In Brookings, South Dakota State University political science professor Evren Wiltse held a debate watch party on campus Tuesday night. For such an audience, the upcoming election may not grab their attention quite like it does for other demographics.

“One of the issues that strikes us as political scientists is the lower voter turnout among the young population,” Wiltse said Wednesday.

From her vantage point, Tuesday’s debate was an improvement when compared to the debate between Trump and current President Joe Biden.

“The overall level of debate, I think, was elevated,” Wiltse said. “The, one of the most important things that pleased me was that they actually talked about policy instead of personal attacks. We had a lot of policy areas covered.”

SDSU senior Ella Waterworth also saw a better event.

“I think that they both did a better job than I had thought,” Waterworth said. “I think it went better than the first debate that Trump had with Joe Biden.”

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But she wasn’t thrilled with all of it.

“At some points I definitely thought that there were questions or interruptions or some fact-checking that was happening to Trump and not Kamala,” Waterworth said.

SDSU junior Phoenix Foster has her own concerns.

“I expected way more intelligence,” Foster said.

Not only that, but she wants a candidate to get to the point.

“I wanted more direct answers to each question and less insults to each other,” Foster said.

There are just under eight weeks until Election Day, and SDSU sophomore Braxton Taff is the kind of voter each campaign will be eager to impress. He’s undecided, and the debate didn’t leave him overly enthusiastic.

“I thought it was a little silly,” Taff said. “I thought both sides were, they didn’t seem like they were too keen on answering any of the questions that were asked.”

Nevertheless, he thinks he’ll vote in November. But he’s looking for clarity… and substance.

“I just kind of want to cut out all the crap and just know what their plans are,” Taff said.

Absentee voting will start in South Dakota on Sept. 20.