INDIANAPOLIS — Did the debate sway your opinion on who you are voting for? That was the question WRTV posed to Hoosiers in Carmel and Indianapolis.
"I think both candidates showed themselves pretty openly,” Gabbie Watson, who plans on voting for Trump, said. “I feel like it was a pretty accurate representation of what I've seen from them already.“
That was the general reaction from voters WRTV talked to. Many say they have already made up their minds.
"We feel pretty strongly about being pro-life, that life in the womb matters and outside of the womb matters,” Maddie Huberty, who plans on voting for Trump, said. “There are a lot of other topics that we believe in but that is a big one on our minds, especially with a newborn. I recently miscarried so it's an important topic for me to talk about."
"Not overturning a fair election would be number one,” Daniel Young, who plans on voting for Harris said. “Democracy sounds like a good thing to continue and something I want my son to have.”
"I think she is just honest, she is down to earth, and she likes people,” Betty Watters, who plans on voting for Harris, said. “She wants to help people out, I think that's a good thing as citizens.”
While it sounds like debate performance can't sway people's votes, experts say in this election cycle, it's a possibility, especially since President Biden stepped down after a poor debate performance.
"The performance we saw last night can really make a difference in how they formulate their opinions and for those voters, that's where we see these kinds of debates being really impactful,” Laura Wilson, an Association Professor of Political Science at UIndy, said.
We also spoke to two University of Indianapolis students who are first-time voters. They say they are on opposite sides of the aisle but neither said they feel their voice in this election was addressed by either candidate.
"I would definitely like to hear more of them talking about college age students and younger families,” Bryce Howard, a first-time voter, voting for Trump, said. “I don't think they addressed those all too well last night."
"They didn't really speak to the younger voters, which is one of the biggest groups that they need to appeal to, so that was kind of disappointing,” Cameron Riley, a first-time voter, voting for Harris, said. “I was really surprised during the conversation about Palestine and Israel, they didn't mention the college campuses.”
WRTV also spoke with voters who don’t like either candidate. Some said they would leave the presidential portion of their ballot blank, and others have said they wont be voting at all.
