CLEVELAND — Thousands of Ohioans watched the first Presidential Debate Tuesday night either on TV or on a livestream.
"I thought Joe Biden did a lot better than I expected him to," said Carlos Cruz. Cruz, a Biden voter but supporter of Sen. Bernie Sanders, had a virtual watch party for the debate.
"I thought Trump came out punching," said Tasha Schlachet. Schlachet said she'll be voting for Trump again in November.
Both Schalchet and Cruz admit they like politics, so they found parts of the verbal sparring during the debate entertaining, but Schalchet said she can see how it wouldn't resonate with any undecided voters.
"I think it devolved into a little bit of a screaming match," she said.
"The fact that, like, a presidential debate is more so entertaining than insightful says a lot about what this election is," said Cruz.
The tone was not lost on moderator Chris Wallace.
The Fox News host had to stop the debate several times to get the candidates back on track.
"I think the country would be better served if we allowed both people to speak," he said after several interruptions by both President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden.
During the 90-minute, commercial-free debate, Wallace asked both candidates questions about their records, the economy, the open seat on the United States Supreme Court and racial injustice issues across the country.
Even though Schlachet and Cruz know who they are voting for, they wanted more from each candidate.
"You know, I still feel like he's more focused on what he's done versus what he's going to do," Schlachet said about Trump's performance on stage. "But I think for people who are undecided, I'm not sure they got much out of that."
"I think the answer that I got is, I mean, Joe Biden is being consistent for what he's saying," Cruz said about what he heard from Biden. "He's not really switching it up at all. So that's what American voters want to want to vote for. Then, you know, that's their right to do that."
Despite the charged atmosphere, both Cruz and Schlachet said they think the debates are important.
"And I would expect that with the next debate that they're more in tune with a futuristic view," Schalchet said.
