With Election Day in almost a month, it means the presidential candidates are now finally meeting on the big stage for the presidential debates. The first presidential debate occurred last Monday at Hofstra University, where Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton squared off with questions focused on national security, the economy, etc. There were several significant things that were said and done at the debate (spoiler alert: Donald Trump sniffling is not important at all), as they reflect both candidates' views and poise throughout the night. However, which candidate came out on top?

To start things off, moderator Lester Holt let both candidates do most of the talking. For most of the debate, Holt let Trump and Clinton square off without any intervention, and he was criticized fairly for it as a result. Both candidates went over the time limit of each argument (for those who do not know, each candidate has two minutes to explain their point, as well as a follow-up statement), and Holt unsuccessfully tried to keep both candidates on topic. As a result, Clinton and Trump overtook Holt's presence during the debate. That being said, the more interesting aspect of the debate was when the presidential candidates started to talk about policies.

Trump started off as his usual self. He came out aggressively towards Clinton, and talked about how jobs are "fleeing the country". However, another trait came out during his first two-minute statement: over-exaggerating his claims. Now, to be fair, Clinton is guilty of this, too. In an NPR analysis of the debate, fact-checkers determined that Clinton had three claims that were exaggerated, including not taking in factors for equal pay for women and promising debt-free college. According to education correspondent Anya Kamenetz, "Debt-free college was Clinton’s primary campaign promise; at the end of the primary season, she announced a plan for tuition-free public college for working families." However, Trump was caught over-exaggerating six times during his statement, and in his follow-up had one flat out lie (in comparison, NPR found that Clinton had no lies in her first follow-up).

Trump really started to weaken when Clinton began using his points and past statements against him. Whenever Clinton mentioned a past statement from Trump, instead of backing up his points, Trump would interrupt Clinton and claim that he did not say a certain statement. Take for instance the first occurrence of this, when Clinton referred to one of Trump's past tweets in 2012. He claimed that climate change was a hoax created by the Chinese (which can be found on Trump's Twitter account here), and instead of defending himself with why he does not believe in climate change, he kept stepping back and lied that he did not make a past statement.

This says a lot about Trump's character. Throughout the debate, he backtracked on former stances, hardly explained his policies, and attacked Clinton without backing up a claim with evidence -- or would just repeat himself. Here's an actual quote from Trump attacking Clinton: "No wonder you’ve been fighting ISIS your entire adult life." (for those who do not know, ISIS has existed in present form since 2013-14).

But what about Clinton? I've been criticizing Trump for most of the article, but I'm not giving Clinton a free pass, either. Clinton should have attacked Trump more on his questionable foreign policy views, including his relationship with Russian president Vladimir Putin. There was also a moment where she was caught flip-flopping on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which could create a new single market (similar to the EU). However, that is all I could think of for Clinton's debate flaws. She was poised, remained calm when answering questions, clearly did her research on Trump and did not fight with her opponent whenever he interrupted. She -- dare I say it -- looked presidential.

So, what's the final verdict? I would give Trump a D+. Sometimes he had valid arguments, but most of the time he just rambled and failed to back up his points when attacking Clinton. I would give Clinton an A-. Like I said before, she looked poised and presidential, and even with a couple of small mistakes, she immediately bounced back. We can't judge quite yet, though because there are still two more debates. Trump can come back in the next one, or Clinton can hold her ground for the next two. Either way, the American public needs to be informed and aware about each candidate, because on Election Day, we will change American history forever.