All eyes were on President Biden and former President Donald Trump’s first debate of 2024 Thursday night — but as their advertising buys proved, both were interested primarily in reaching swing-state voters, who are likely to decide the election.
The Post talked to undecided voters in battleground states and got their reaction to the face-off — and Biden’s shocking performance.
Nathan Punwani, 36, Phoenix, Ariz., physician
“Seeing Biden yesterday, I think he’s a decent guy and means well, but that was not the performance I would expect from a commander in chief,” said Punwani, who voted for Biden last time.
“He just meandered in his answers, and he didn’t inspire confidence in me.”
He’s wondering if another candidate might end up the Democratic nominee.
“The debate made me in some ways more uncertain because now there’s potentially a prospect for a new candidate on the Democratic side,” he said. “It’s hard for me to see Biden continuing like this. I’m more interested in who the Democrats would pick as a potential successor in August.”
But Punwani is hesitant to support Trump because he’s too divisive: “The legal cases going on and Jan. 6 both make his brand a little bit noxious,” he said.
Korry Franke, Nazareth area, Pa., pilot for a major US airline
Franke didn’t seem a big fan of either Trump or Biden going into debate night. Watching the match, though, made things “very clear” when “looking at the two. The visual alone!”
We “don’t want the name-calling,” we “just want results,” Franke said.
“I don’t care who was the worst president. I sure don’t care what their golf scores are. I just want my neighbors and my kids to have a better tomorrow than they do today, and I think that’s a clear choice,” he concluded — he’s voting for Trump.
Kunal Lobo, Tucson, Ariz., recent Ph.D. graduate
Lobo voted for Biden in 2020 and Hillary Clinton in 2016 but is undecided this year.
“I didn’t love him, but I liked him a decent amount,” he said of 2020 Biden, adding that he preferred Andrew Yang and Mike Bloomberg.
Lobo thought Biden would be a unifier, but the president “ended up being extremely divisive. Even if you don’t like Trump, as Bill Maher said, you can’t hate everyone who voted for him.”
He had a mixed reaction to the debate. “It definitely didn’t push me toward Biden, but it didn’t push me more toward Trump because there were so many lies,” he said. Trump “didn’t answer the questions, and he kept repeating the same talking points over and over again.”
“It pushed me away from Biden and almost pushed me away from Trump as well. I’m almost considering voting third party.”
Taylor Johnson, 34, Dayton, Ohio, works in IT
Johnson, an undecided voter, didn’t watch the whole debate but saw parts of it and watched more Friday.
“Honestly, after seeing it, I’m a little disappointed,” she said. “I was hoping we would talk about the issues that are facing America right now. From what I have seen and heard, it was just children bickering with each other.”
Still, she came to some conclusions on the candidates.
“I’m also a little concerned about Biden’s cognitive situation. Even when he was asked a question, it didn’t seem like he could answer but kind of danced around it. It sounded like Trump did a better job.”
