On October 9, at Washington University in St. Louis, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton faced off on the second of two presidential debates.

It was done as a town- hall style debate, with half of the questions from the moderators, and half of the questions from audience members. It produced mixed results.

Trump had to defend himself from what was described as a “3 vs 1” debate, while also dealing with the fallout of a recording of a 2005 conversation he had concerning fame and how he treated women. At the same time as the leaked Trump tape, whistleblower website WikiLeaks had released a set of emails concerning Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta.

Both events were major developments in the campaign and both were serious enough to alter the support of each candidate. Did this debate change the opinions of any Blanchet students?

“My opinion didn’t change at all,” said senior Tomas Alvarez. “My favorite part was when one person asked the candidates what they would do for everyone in the country, not just what they would do for special interest groups”.

While the debate could have been described as informative and formal, some students thought that it was quite the opposite.

“I did not like it”, said Jon Williams. “It was hard to watch, and was not very presidential.” “My favorite question was the one asked by the gentleman in the red sweater”.

Although the debate was very widely watched, some people were busy with homework, activities, or Membean and were unable to watch the event.

Senior Nick Kulp said, “I only watched a few highlights of the debate”. “As for the Trump tape, I think that it was a bad thing. However, I don’t think it matters as much as the media makes it sound like it does. Also, I think more should be done in addressing the email leaks, as it is rarely reported on any mainstream media sites.”

While the debates are exciting to watch for people, their main purpose is to inform the public on important issues and engage the candidates in a reasonable discussion. The third and final debate will take place on Wednesday, October 19 from 6 – 7:30 pm. It will be moderated by Chris Wallace of Fox News. You can watch it on any of the major news networks, as well as online in the form of live- streamed videos.