Twitter poll: Pulse followers voted Clinton winner of first debate

By Darius Merriweather
@WishUWereOCHO

With the 2016 presidential slowly coming up in the next few weeks, the two nominees faced off head-to-head for the first time on the Hofstra University stage in New York.

Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton took center stage after months of verbal attacks to put together one of, if not, the most memorable presidential debate The United States has ever seen.

But with all the excitement surrounding this year’s election most people considered the debate disturbing.

“With this year being my first year voting in an election I am not very sure of who I should vote for because these candidates make it very difficult,” said Marian Kaer, a freshman business student.

The election was filled with the kind of back-and-forth action and aggressive tones that you could easily mistake for a boxing press conference with moderator Lester Holt acting as the referee.

Junior Deshawn Scott thought that this election was not good for America moving forward.

“I hope that America can get through this election in one piece,” Scott said.

According to the survey conducted on the Pulse’s Twitter page, Hillary Clinton won the debate. Fifty-eight percent of voters said Clinton won and the remaining 42 percent voted Trump as the debate winner.

Earlier in the month the Pulse conducted another Twitter poll for students and faculty on who they would be voting for. Fifty-two percent of the campus population shared that they were voting for Trump in November while 26 percent said they were planning to vote for Clinton.

Last Monday’s debate was especially historical because of the number of eyes that were watching: 84 million people had their TVs switched to the debate on the campus of Hofstra University. This is easily the most people to ever watch a presidential debate ever since 1960 where televised debates came to fruition between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon.

Political Science major Dillon Jared, who was equally as frustrated with the candidates as other students interviewed were, was impressed upon hearing the numbers on viewership.

“That just shows you how many people are watching and depending on America to do the right thing for the rest of the world,” Jared said.

In the waning weeks leading up to Nov. 8 election, the race is still tight. According to the Huffington Post, the poll for president is neck-and-neck with Hillary Clinton ahead 47.5 percent to Donald Trump’s 42.6 percent. These next two debates will be key for both parties. The next debate will be Sunday, Oct. 9 from the campus of Washington University in St. Louis Missouri.