The first round of the United States presidential debate on Monday has come and gone with many analysts saying that former Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, appeared to have outperformed her rival, Donald Trump.
Some other analysts, however, said the debates didn’t quite address pressing issues especially with regards to economic growth and the US’ involvement in Syria.
The debate, according to them, witnessed more of personal attacks as Republican Donald Trump accused his rival, Clinton of using a private e-mail server during her time as secretary of state.
Clinton fired back by suggesting that Trump has not paid a dime in federal taxes and may not be as rich as he wants Americans to believe.
Lester Holt, the debate moderator then asked Trump why he was reluctant to release his tax details, and he replied that he was under a “routine audit” and the tax details would be ready once the audit was finished.
He then added that he would not release them if his opponent did not release 33,000 emails that were deleted during an investigation into her private email set-up while secretary of state.
Another key exchange was on Trump’s long-held belief that President Barack Obama was born outside the US, a position he finally reversed two weeks ago.
Clinton also attacked Trump for praising Russian President, Vladimir Putin, and suggesting he “find” her emails.
“I was so shocked when Donald publicly invited Putin to hack into Americans. That is just unacceptable… Donald is unfit to be commander-in-chief,” she said.
The debate was the first of three between the two candidates, and the American voters go to the polls on 8 November.
What The Polls Say
The percentage of voters who watched the debate live on CNN, and who think Clinton would do a better job handling foreign policy, is 62% to 35%,
54% of viewers think Clinton would be the better candidate to handle terrorism, as against the 43% who prefer Trump.
The split is much closer on the economy, with 51% saying they favor Clinton’s approach and 47% choosing Trump.
Overall, 55% say they did not think Trump would be able to handle the job of president, 43% said they thought he would.
Among political independents who watched the debate, it’s a near-even split, 50% say he can handle it, 49% that he can’t.
Overall, 55% say they didn’t think Trump would be able to handle the job of president, 43% said they thought he would.
The New York showdown could be the most watched debate in TV history, with up to 100 million viewers.
What Did The US MEDIA Say
New York Times – The editorial board was unimpressed with the debate, saying “when just one candidate is serious and the other is a vacuous bully, the term loses all meaning”.
Washington Post – Writers unanimously gave the evening to Clinton, saying Trump had “bombed on the ultimate reality show” and “did not appear ready to be president”.
Fox News – Pundits said Mr Trump had “struggled”, “never took control” and “failed to exploit” the issue around Mrs Clinton’s emails.
LA Times – Its panel of three commentators had Mrs Clinton winning every round. “Politics is harder than it seems, and Trump found that out tonight”.
New York Daily News – The tabloid’s verdict: “A grumpy loser! Trump pesters, interrupts Hillary throughout debate – but Clinton gets the last laugh.”
How did the moderator do?
Trump told CNN that Lester Holt did “a great job” and his questions were “very fair”. He later criticized the debate moderator in a tweet, accusing him of not asking any questions on Clinton’s e-mail, the Clinton foundation or Benghazi.
One of Trump’s supporters, former New York Mayor, Rudy Giuliani said Holt should be “ashamed of himself” while Fox media pundit Howard Kurtz accused Holt of anti-Trump bias.