Press. voanews.com.
For months,
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have been telling supporters about their plans
for the country and lobbing criticism at each other. On Monday, they got to do
it in person at a debate that largely gave voters a reiteration of the
candidates they have come to know.
There was
Trump's denial that he supported the war in Iraq, his blaming Clinton for the
rise of Islamic State and her charge that he has no plan to defeat the militant
group. He again questioned whether she has the stamina to be president, and she
said he lacked the temperament for the office. Clinton said Trump's economic
plans would benefit the rich, and he said the wealthy will create jobs for the
middle class.
“I think that
what we saw was very, very much the Trump that we’ve been seeing up until now
and the Clinton that we’ve been seeing up until now, and so probably most
voters are going to have the same material that they had before and it probably
won’t move the needle very much," said Hans Noel, an assistant professor
of government at Georgetown University.
Noel told VOA he
expected Trump would make a shift to being more moderate, like fellow
Republican Mitt Romney did in 2012, and that others expected Clinton to be
focused on delivering her message and not engaging with Trump. But he said
neither happened.
The election in
November will have a winner, and at each step along the way there is often a
focus on who is ahead in polls and who wins events like the debates.
Multiple polls,
including those from CNN/ORC and Public Policy Polling showed Clinton as the
winner Monday night. Talkwalker, which examines social media trends, said
mentions of #NeverHillary outpaced #NeverTrump 66 percent to 34 percent before
the debate, but that by the time it ended hashtags supporting Clinton were at
68 percent compared to 32 percent for Trump.
Cary Covington,
an associate professor of political science at the University of Iowa, said
Trump was "very forceful, very assertive," while Clinton appeared
"more calm and in control."
"Hillary
Clinton demonstrated commands of policy questions," he told VOA.
"Donald Trump focused in on a small number of issues that he wanted to
talk about, [but] wasn't as adept at speaking broadly to the range of topics
that were asked about."
Covington said
presidents have to be ready for any question that concerns the nation's
interests, and that during the debate Clinton "did a better job of at
least addressing the merits." That included, he said, a question about her
use of a private email server while she was secretary of state that has drawn
great criticism and which she again Monday called a "mistake."
The campaigns,
and particularly the many debates that have taken place since Democrats and
Republicans began the process of nominating candidates last year, have brought
extra focus on journalists and others fact checking what Clinton and Trump say.
That continued
Monday with statements like Trump's assertion that he never called global
warming a hoax "created by the Chinese," which he said on Twitter in
2012. Clinton said Monday of the Trans-Pacific Partnership she "hoped it
would be a good deal," but when she was secretary of state she repeatedly
touted it only to change her position during her presidential run.
Noel said voters
watching at home are likely to believe the candidate they already like.
"Most
people have already made up their mind, so when Trump says something and
someone challenges him on the facts and he says no, no I’m still right, the
people who are inclined to like Trump are going to continue to think that way,
they’re going to believe that," he said. "And the same when Clinton
says something and some people challenge her on that or push back and then
they’re going to say I’m going to believe her because they already did."
Both candidates
were, unsurprisingly, positive about their performance after the debate, with
Clinton saying she felt great and Trump declaring himself the winner. Covington
said the ultimate outcome depends on what each felt they needed to accomplish
in a race that Clinton has generally led in polls but which has recently become
tight.
"Trump’s
goal has to be to overtake Clinton. That’s a much more difficult task. That
means persuading people who are either on the sidelines or are leaning towards
Clinton to come over to his side. I don’t think he did much to help himself on
that goal, but it’s a more demanding goal than the one that Hillary Clinton
faced," Covington said. "Hillary Clinton needed to reassure voters
who don’t want to vote for Trump that she’s acceptable, she’s already got the
lead. She
was able to give that impression."
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