Last week, the country tuned in to watch the first Democratic Presidential Primary debate on June 26 & 27. Each night, 10 candidates took to the stage to face grilling questions and get their stances heard. Some of the major topics that were covered included climate change, immigration, health care and education.
Wednesday night had many memorable moments. O’Rourke and Booker each spoke Spanish during the debate, while many candidates such as Jay Inslee, Amy Klobuchar, and Julián Castro all argued to be the biggest supporters of abortion rights. Things got heated when immigration and health care were discussed, but ultimately it was Elizabeth Warren who came out as the top-polling candidate of the night. She dominated the first quarter of the debate and received minimal challenges overall.
On night two, all eyes were on Biden, Harris, and Sanders. Sanders once again argued for Medicare For All and free public higher education. He, along with Biden, directly attacked President Trump on a variety of issues. Biden also touched on health care, stating that he wanted to continue building Obamacare. However, the former VP had slightly different views from the Obama administration on matters such as immigration.
Biden went head to head with Sen. Kamala Harris regarding race, with Harris describing feeling personally affected by Biden’s prior work with segregationists. Harris outperformed her opponents in polls, with lasting words that are perhaps the most talked about moment from night two. Amidst a fight between candidates, she interrupted all and stated “America does not want to witness a food fight, they want to know how we’re going to put food on their table” to which she earned roaring applause.
The Democratic Debate received a record 18.1 million viewers on night two. About 4 million were between the ages of 25-54. However, this number still fell short to viewership for President Trump during the Republican Primary Debate in 2015, which had 24 million viewers.
With so many potential presidential candidates, it will be interesting to see where the people’s support lies over the next year, and whether Trump gets reelected or a new face emerges victorious.
Image Courtesy of Evan El-Amin / Maverick Pictures (Shutterstock)