The Biden team in hoped to boost the incumbent’s campaign, an effort now in vain with Biden subsequently dropping out of the presidential race on July 21. But with former President Trump’s refusal to attend any Republican primary debates, this event marked one of his most significant public appearances since the start of his election campaign.

Anticipation for the debate was palpable, and many voters left with changed or intensified views on the candidates. When I was watching the debate, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Neither politician acted respectably. They were too busy name-calling and slandering each other to reassure any of us voters that our country has a bright future ahead.

From abortion rights to the situation in Gaza, the attendees were asked about both national and international issues. However, much of the media’s focus ended up being on the delivery of their answers rather than its content.

To ensure fairness and prevent Trump’s usual interruptions and crowd instigations, CNN muted microphones after an allotted time.

The debate did not have a live audience – for the first time since JFK and Nixon’s debate in 1960. Leading up to the debate, the Democrats believed the odds favored Biden, but afterwards many were left in a panic, feeling he had underperformed – a sentiment that would only grow over the coming weeks.

Biden began the debate with a slow walk to his podium, a hoarse voice, and frequent stumbles in his sentences, highlighting his age of 81. Trump, although only three years his junior, took every opportunity to point out these flaws and threw quickfire lines at him, such as: “I really don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence. I don’t think he knows what he said, either.”

Insulting his opponent seems to be a frequent tactic of Trump, with his now target Kamala Harris being called “crazy” and a “fascist” by the former president, as reported by The Guardian. His most bizarre recent attack was saying that Harris was sounding more like “Trump than Trump”.

Meanwhile, in terms of content, Trump met many voters’ expectations of his debate performance by prioritizing insults over policy and presenting false claims and statistics not backed by reputable sources.

While most Americans were captivated by the candidates’ delivery, the substance (or lack thereof) in the debate was my primary concern.

Like many in this era of extreme political polarization, I entered the debate with a preference for one candidate. As a political organizer in Florida, I was rooting for Biden, hoping he would demonstrate to voters the high stakes of this election cycle.

Trump claimed: “They [Democrats] will take the life of a child in the eighth month, the ninth month, and even after birth”. Although Biden responded to Trump’s comments by saying it is “simply not true” he failed to back up his statement with facts or properly address the extremity of Trump’s lies. In reality, less than 1% of abortions occur late in pregnancy, which is defined as 21 weeks – not at all “after birth” as Trump ridiculously claimed.

Trump also claimed that “the country is now coming together on this issue [banning abortions].” In fact, people are more unified in protecting reproductive rights. According to  Pew Research Center, 63% of Americans believe abortion should be upheld on a national level.

Biden’s failure to address the concerns of young Americans regarding the conflict allowed Trump’s more extreme and concerning remarks to go unchecked.

Trump used “Palestinian” as an insult and argued, “Israel is the one. And you should let them go and let them go finish the job. He doesn’t want to do it.”

I wish I could say that the rest of the debate took a different direction and that either candidate brought substance to the table. Instead, many Americans ended the night feeling like the global laughingstock of politics.

Never did I expect to hear a presidential candidate defend his 30+ convictions by saying, “I [Trump] didn’t have sex with a porn star” during a live debate. The night was filled with meaningless insults, with the candidates calling each other “whiners” or claiming to have “the biggest heart on the stage”.

They even spent a laughable amount of time arguing about their golfing skills, using their allotted time not to speak to American voters but to argue about who had the better swing.

Hope Adelson, 16, organizer and communications director of Florida High School Democrats, expressed concerns, stating: “I was extremely disappointed at the amount of immaturity on the stage. Both candidates were throwing insults at each other throughout the whole night. I do not want the president of the United States to stoop to the level of needing insults; their policies and work should speak for themselves.”

Biden’s task during the debate was to reassure voters that he was mentally and physically equipped to take on another term – and he resoundingly failed to accomplish that. I haven’t been on this earth for long, but I have not yet seen political tensions this high.

At the time of the debate, there were only four months until the election and the Democrats couldn’t agree on whether Biden should be their nominee. Now, after his announcement that he is stepping down from the presidential race, the debate serves as a poor foundation for the future of his party and for his successor Kamala Harris.

His hour-long address at the Democratic National Convention was called ‘emotional’ by many, with Biden making proclamations such as “America, I love you” to the crowd that was chanting thankful words for his work for the Democrat party. However, of course, it wouldn’t be a proper speech unless he called Trump a “loser” as he did it.

Additionally, during the debate, when asked if he’d accept the results of the 2024 election, Trump was evasive, saying, “if it’s a fair and legal and good election,” implying that another January 6 could occur if the election doesn’t go his way.

He has continued to state this even now, saying in an interview with CBS that he would accept the election result if it is “free and fair”. In the same interview, he defended his insults against Harris’s intelligence and cited a cognitive test that he claimed to have received a “perfect score” on, a very similar claim to the one he made in 2020.

Despite Harris’ accredited legal career and position as vice president, Trump says that “I don’t think she is a very smart person”, saying that this is “fact” and not an insult. When asked for evidence to support this, Trump said that he looked at what she says, deals and her “crazy record” to prove her lack of intelligence, ironically enough despite his own criminal one.

I understand why so many voters felt deterred by the presidential debate and why so many people don’t want to vote. But it is important to remember that, above all, what the candidates stand for matters.

Whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican, knowing what is at stake for national, regional, and local policy is crucial. And although it might sound a cliché, democracy is literally on the line. The next president could have the power to appoint new Supreme Court justices, veto legislation, and completely transform our involvement in foreign politics.

We can’t let rambling sentences or conversations about golf distract us from upholding democracy. That debate was a mess, but the people on that stage aren’t the voices of America – the people are. In the meantime, I just hope that any future debates between Harris and Trump go smoother.

To hear more youth opinions on the US elections, listen to our podcast