Students of all political walks of life merged together Wednesday evening in the Stubbs auditorium to watch President Barack Obama and GOP challenger Mitt Romney square-off in the election’s first debate.
The College Democrats, College Republicans and Pi Sigma Alpha, the political science honor fraternity, organized the viewing session.
“In a perfect world in an ideal setting, it would be neat if varying political ideologies watched it and had an intelligent discussion on politics. The debate is a good reason to do that,” said political science professor Joshua Stockley.
Stockley, along with fellow professor John Sutherlin, helped bring the three groups together for the debate. Stockley said the debate fit in well with their research methods class, which normally takes place before the debate’s start time.
Once the debate began, students spent the next hour and a half fixated on the two political juggernauts make their case for the presidency. They calmly absorbed points made by the competing candidates with no outbursts or arguments.
The only time the crowd ever seemed to react was when ABC News flashed humorous tweets from others watching from around the country. Many of them relating to Romney’s threat of cancelling PBS funding, and with it the beloved “Sesame Street” character Big Bird.
Romney spent the night thundering away at what he called failed policies of the Obama administration. Obama at times struggled to communicate his message.
The general consensus from most political pundits across the cable news stations seemed to be Romney won. A CNN/ORC poll indicated that 67 percent of respondents agreed Romney won.
But students weren’t so convinced.
Natalian Carter, a senior political science major and Obama supporter, said Obama kept his cool under Romney’s attacks and touched on things important to her.
“I think he touched on some points I need to know, especially concerning me being a college student,” said Carter, going on to specifically mention student loan interest rates and improving education.
However, Romney supporter Jonathan Cobb, a junior political science major, said despite a rough start, Romney settled down and handily won the debate. He said Romney needs to keep up the intensity going forward.
“As far as the arguments go, I hope Romney continues to do what he did tonight. I think he’ll appeal to the independent voter,” said Cobb.
At least one undecided voter in the crowd, Aaron Word, a senior political science major, said the debate made him more “excited” about Romney after seeing his performance.
“I don’t know a lot about Romney, and I’m still somewhat undecided on Obama. Getting the facts and hearing them out face-to-face on the screen is good,” Word said.
Going forward, Word said he is looking forward to seeing how the remaining debates shake out before making his final decision.
Two more presidential debates and one vice presidential debate remain before voters head to the polls in November.
