'Disappointing, dreadful': Gen-Z voters slam presidential debate as 'a train wreck'

Many critics of former President Donald Trump have been having two reactions to his first 2024 debate with President Joe Biden, hosted by CNN on Thursday night, June 27: (1) Trump, they argue, showed how dangerous he is, and (2) Biden, sounding weak and hoarse, failed to reassure Democrats that he is capable of defeating Trump in November.

Young voters are one of the demographics who Democratic strategists were hoping Biden would win over during the debate. But according to GBS News' Alexi Cohan, a panel of six Generation Z voters found the debate to be "disappointing, dreadful, messy and a train wreck."

Kunal Botla, a progressive who is 18, told GBS, "I think this debate just shows the kind of phenomenon that I would say is very present in politics across the board where politicians are fully disconnected from what the actual needs of voters are."

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Asked who won the debate, Botla responded, "Society as a whole lost."

Fellow progressive Clyve Lawrence, who is 21, told GBS, "I do think that this debate should be a wakeup call for the Democratic party to explore options beyond Biden or strengthen very heavily the message around Biden."

Abigail Meyers, a 21-year-old Democrat, lamented that "Biden's performance" is "kind of overshadowing the terrible things that Donald Trump was saying throughout the debate."

Ky Urban, a 21-year-old Republican, told GBS, "I would definitely say this debate showed Trump was back in the game a little bit…. The way he answered the NATO questions felt pretty dodgy to me. I think that both candidates handled Israel pretty poorly. The way Trump said that he wants Israel to finish the job felt very appalling to me."

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Read GBH News' full report at this link.