Bostonians react to the presidential debate

By Madison Lucchesi

President Joe Biden and Former President Donald Trump participated in a presidential debate on Thursday. Bostonians reassess their political leanings following the debate. 

“It’s embarrassing to claim that we’re the most powerful country in the world and then have two, regardless of what political opinion you have, just laughable candidates,” Suffolk University student Ruby Walsh told The Boston Globe.

“It’s very difficult to make a decision with those two top candidates because it’s as if to be a president, you have to be over the age of 75,” said Julia Karwachi, another Suffolk University student. 

Donald Trump leads President Biden – 41.1 to 40.9 percent – in the polls right now, according to FiveThirtyEight. Trump also scored a B grading for his debate performance, while Biden received an F. 

GBH News spoke to residents of Saugus, Massachusetts. A few residents believe Trump won the debate and support him for president, while other residents believe neither candidate won or did not watch the debate at all. 

Jacob Roschen is a Democrat who plans to vote for Biden again this fall. “We’ve seen them both in a presidency before. An hour long debate wasn’t going to change the history of what they’ve already done.”

“I’m really worried about if [Biden] wins, if he can actually be the leader,” said Jepherson Cardoso, a first time voter who is a registered Independent. Cardoso doubt’s Biden’s leadership based on how he and his cabinet have handled the wars in Israel and Ukraine.  

Across the state, many voters have not decided who they will be voting for in the Presidential election, which is only four months away.