Undecided Arizona voters react to presidential debate

Well, good evening everyone. And thanks for joining us for our special coverage of decision 2024 following the first presidential debate between former President Trump and vice President Harris, I'm Mark Curtis and I'm Troy Hayden. That debate just wrapping up and voters are beginning to process what the candidate said and how it may impact their vote. And we're going to hear from some of those voters right now. World news journalist, Bram Resnick is up in the newsroom with a panel of Arizona voters and Bram, you sat in the room and watched the debate with them. What are they saying? Now, we all watch this together. We'll find out in a minute what they, what they have to say about it. This is a diverse group of voters who are the kind of voters that are going to decide this election in our toss up battleground state. A few are undecided. A few lean left. A few lean right one, you'll find out doesn't lean at all. Yeah, we'll find out. So, first off show of hands who won this debate? Was it Donald Trump two for Trump? Was it Kamala Harris? Was it neither Ok, Nicole is a neither and Denise, you're neither too. Well, it's not so much a neither. Trump clearly lost. Harris has certainly opened a door and shown us more of herself. Keep doing that. Please show us what you're made of. So that was what I ask. Ok, Jeff, what do you feel? You, you thought Kamala Harris won. A lot of people said she had to show us who she was what she did. She came across as presidential, articulating her vision and her desire to help everybody get up on their feet. Trump was just a spewing volcano of hate and bullying and it was just disqualifying Juan Carl, Juan Carlos. You thought Trump won? Yeah, because I feel like he spoke more like the bigger issues, special problems at the border. My family came here legally. We went through that process and it took a long time now we're good. So it feels wrong that other people, the illegals are coming here more easily and getting more benefits than regular Americas than regular Americans. And then we both had people. American people die at the hands of legal immigrants like a young boy from Ohio. Yes. The name was uh Aidan Clark who was killed by an illegal Haitian. He'd still be alive if we had a stronger border security. OK. Let's go to Nicole, Nicole coming into this. You really didn't know what you were gonna do. It seems like you still feel that way. Was there anything tonight that connected with you in any way? I thought it was telling that they both had the opportunity to answer a question about their leadership Trump with January 6th and Harris with, um, the Afghanistan withdraw and they both evaded the question and that was an opportunity that neither one of them took. Unfortunately. So you're looking for leadership. Yeah, I think right now it's, uh, it's either personality or policy that you're voting for and I hope people will look at policy tonight. They, they had a chance to show us characteristics of leadership. Neither one showed that. Ok. And Bonnie, uh you thought Kamala Harris won. I want to ask what you thought about the tone of the debate. Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, we saw facial mannerisms, we saw all kinds of different things. How do you think they carried it off? I think they carried it off well. And even as far as Trump goes, I thought he was uh on the tame side for, for what's possible from Trump. Uh Other than the, the comment about the immigrants eating the pets, I thought it was pretty controlled on his part. Uh I agree with you that some of the questions they didn't come right out and answer and those were things that I happened to be interested in the overall leadership quality I would have to give to Harris based on this debate. All right, Harris, let's go to Romeo, you were for Trump. Um, and did you come in feeling we were leading Trump, I think? Yeah. So in 2020 I voted for Biden. But, uh, with the way this administration has done so far, I've been leaning towards Trump this time around. And, uh, what I feel like happened in this debate is I think Trump did exactly what a lot of us thought he was gonna do. He attacked Pamela and this administration with how they've handled immigration and the failings of our economy. But what surprised me the most was uh how Kamala was also on the attack and kinda did a lot of uh explaining why Trump wouldn't be a good president again instead of outlining why she would make a good one. And I feel like that was a big missed opportunity. Julian, I think you came in a little Pro Harris. And how are you feeling now after watching that? It was really the first, the first look the nation had at vice President Kamala Harris as a presidential nominee. Yeah, I just think she's the more, um, more uh candidate that stands out the most. Um I think this debate really from my side, I went more for her because she explained herself and said why she would be a good president. Trump was just springing out hate and he wasn't really explaining why he would be a good president and what he would do to uh make himself look better. He was just kind of going back and forth with Kamala and, um, tell him why he didn't agree with her. I want to end with another show of hands. Did this debate decide your vote? Yes or no. Yes. Three. Yes. No, three. No. Ok. What more do you want to know from these candidates? You seem pretty strong on president on former President Trump? Um, well, I did like how Kamala kind of opened the door to talk about how she feels about certain policies. And, um, I would like to just learn more as, unfortunately, the way the debate turned out, we didn't get to hear a lot about exactly how she feels about certain things. So definitely the doors open to do my own research and find out more. So you could have gone another hour. I don't know if I could do that, but, uh, I could do it on my own time, maybe. Ok, Denise, you were the, the hardest line I don't want to vote for either. Maybe a double hater. Is that fair to say? Are you still feeling that way? No, we, with the last debate, we went from double hater to double cer, double cer. Yes, we went to double cer. Well, now Biden is out of the debate or out of the race. And Trump said that he was only in it because he wanted to beat Biden. Well, now Biden's out. So why can't he just go home and Kamala, like other people have said, has opened a door and shown us more of some of herself. And I would like to see more because she said some things that really resonated with me and there were other that I'm just not, I just want to know more, want to know more. Mark Troy. Yeah, I want to know more. Um, Bram, you know, it seemed like each candidate had one safe place that they would retreat to when they were into a corner for president, former President Trump, it was immigration and for uh Vice President Harris, I think women's reproductive rights was her big issue and will be from now until election day. And I'm wondering how both candidates swayed or didn't sway their thoughts on women's reproductive rights. Ok. So this is an abortion question from Mark Curtis. I'll start with you, Jeff. How did that discussion which came very early on about 615 of abortion rights? How did that affect you the way you viewed the issue at all? Did it move you in either direction? Uh Well, you know, Trump has been very clear about not being clear about abortion rights in IVF Camel Harris has been consistently supporting of women's right to make her own decisions. And so that point alone, I mean, I think there can be more distinct difference between the two Juan Carlos. Well, I'm a Catholic and I don't really view abortion as like that can write unless it's like for rape, incest or, you know, for the life of a mother. So, really, I go more for Trump because I feel he's more pro-life than Kamal Harris. Did, did the, did the discussion sway you at all on reproductive rights? II, I don't even know where you stand. Well, I mean, it's a logical issue. Right. I mean, if, if we have textbooks that state that the unborn is a human, then it, it just doesn't make sense that we're talking about women's rights over an infant's rights. And Harris doesn't really seem to jive with that logic. Is that one issue where you side with Trump but might be, there might be others where you side with Harris. Yeah, that's one policy of Harris's that I can't get on board with because it's just not logical, not logical. You have the last word Bonnie did that sway you at all? Or is, or is it pretty much what you've heard already? It did not sway me. Uh It's pretty much what I've heard. Trump has gone back and forth many times over the issue. Uh personally, for me, uh I'm pro-choice, I mean, I am pro-life but I also respect the rights of other women and I have difficulty thinking about the government having so much say over those issues. Ok? And we're gonna have to stop there. So our panel a toss up, you might say mirroring the electorate at large and what the pollings are telling us, Mark Troy. Yeah. And quickly Bram, because I know we're almost out of time. Maybe a quick show of hands. They're saying they'd like to hear some more. We're here. This could be the only debate who would, by a show of hands would like to see a second debate. Good question. Ok. Last Show of hands question. Who would like to see a second debate? Raise your hand? Wow. Ok. You wanted, well, ok, a very, a very slow hand raise there after an almost two hour debate. All right, Graham. Thank you so much. Uh, very interesting, wasn't it? It was.