I want to start by saying that I am thankful to everyone who participated in the polls that I created for these two nights. I stayed up late watching the pre-show to the debates, the debates itself, and the analysis. I took the time to learn every candidate so I am knowledgable about what they will bring to the table. Fourteen men and six women took the stage on MSNBC, NBC, and Telemundo to make their play to Americans giving reasons as to why they should be our choice to be the next President of the United States of America. Aside from them attacking each other, more so the candidates going after former Vice President Joe Biden and current POTUS Donald Trump, points were made.
These two nights of spirited debates were stressful and between the audience making it difficult for the candidates to speak (which cut into their time) from the candidates forcing themselves into a question that wasn't addressed to them to making promises that they are ensuring they will keep should they win the Presidency, it was overwhelming for me as a new voter. I asked people to participate in my polls to see where they stood because it's nearing the time for the younger generation to step up and vote; to have their voice count and matter.
I had 84.45% of participants who were between the ages 18-21 and 15.55% were ages 22-25. Based on night one of the debate, the candidate that a majority picked was Senator Elizabeth Warren (Beto O'Rourke and Amy Klobuchar were close behind her). Based on night two, the candidate who won most hearts was Senator Kamala Harris with Bernie Sanders behind her by 10%.
I also asked what do they feel the President should focus on and based on night one; the majority agreed that the President's primary focus should be climate change; based on night two, the main focus was split among race/equality, education, healthcare, and immigration.
I think participating in polls like mine (or even polls that are created by news stations) are important for my age demographic to participate in. If you wanna see change, vote. If you want to be the change, vote. Don't sit and complain about how things are if you didn't bother to learn and vote.