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Tonight was the sixth Democratic debate. This debate welcomed seven candidates onto the stage, narrowed down because of stricter requirements to qualify. It was an intense debate, taking place the day after President Donald Trump was impeached. Who do you think won tonight’s debate?
If you are looking for the poll from the January 2020 debate, please see Heavy’s story here.
The candidates who were in tonight’s debate for the Democratic nomination were Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders, Tom Steyer, Elizabeth Warren, and Andrew Yang. Kamala Harris qualified but dropped out of the race. Tulsi Gabbard announced she wouldn’t be attending the debate before it was known whether or not she qualified. Julian Castro and Cory Booker also did not qualify.
The debate started with questions about Trump’s impeachment. Biden addressed the question first, saying that impeaching him was a constitutional necessity and the office of the presidency needs to have its integrity restored.
Sanders said that Trump is a pathological liar running the most corrupt administration “in the modern history of the country.” He said Trump has sold out working-class Americans. “We cannot have a President with that temperament,” he said.
Warren said that this is a constitutional moment and upholding to the Constitution is loyalty to the country, not to a political party. “We’ve now seen the impact of corruption,” she said, and the issue of 2020 is how to run against “the most corrupt President in living history.”
Klobuchar said the law is king, not the President, and “this is a global Watergate.” “If he faces trial in the Senate…why doesn’t he have all the President’s men testify?”
Buttigieg said this is beyond polls or politics and the House was left without a choice.
Steyer said he started the impeachment movement years ago with a petition. (He spoke after the moderator somehow mixed up Yang and Steyer, calling Steyer by Yang’s name first.)
Yang said that Americans don’t trust Congress or the media networks. He also said the media missed why Trump was elected, which included a huge loss of manufacturing jobs. He said Americans will continue to lose trust if we make Trump the fault of all our problems, and instead we need to solve the problems that got Trump elected.
When asked about who they’d ask forgiveness from or who they’d give a gift to, Yang said he’d give every candidate his book as a gift. Buttigieg said that it would be a gift to the country for anyone on stage to become President. Warren said she’d ask for forgiveness because sometimes she gets too worked up. Biden said that he does selfies just like Warren and is working for so many people in pain, like everyone on stage. Sanders said they can all give a gift of a different vision of what a presidential administration can bring. Klobuchar said she’d ask for forgiveness if someone on stage gets mad at her because she can be blunt. Steyer said he’d give a gift of teamwork to everyone on the stage.
FiveThirtyEight has said that primary debates can change the outcome of the election, especially during the earlier debates. Nearly 60 percent of people have shifted their choice after watching a debate, but typically more so if it’s earlier on in the election cycle.
Sometimes it’s tough to predict who will get the most attention at a debate. In June, Tulsi Gabbard was the most-Googled candidate. Kamala Harris trended after her big debate with Biden. Also in June, Andrew Yang trended the next day on Twitter because of his claims that his mic was turned off. In July, Marianne Williamson was a surprise debate star after her statements about reparations. Then in September, Julian Castro got a lot of attention because of his spars with Biden. In October, Sanders was a big trend because it was his first debate after his heart attack and news broke right after the debate that Alexandria Ocasio Cortez was going to endorse him. This time, some of the trending candidates from previous debates won’t even be there.
Who was the ultimate winner of tonight’s debate? Was it the candidate who spoke the most or had the most meme-worthy statements? Was it the candidate who sparred with another candidate in a way that really grabbed viewers’ attention?
Now that you’ve read the article, vote in Heavy’s poll below. Who do you think won tonight’s debate? The candidates are listed in the poll below.
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