Pittsburghers react to highly anticipated presidential debate between Biden, Trump

Matthew Presto had his eyes glued to the debate between President Joe Biden and his Republican rival, former President Donald Trump, and after the 90-minute contest he believes Trump came out on top.

Presto, 31, is a registered Republican from Washington County and he said he was undecided before the debate but was leaning toward Trump.

After the debate, he said his resolve strengthened in supporting Trump.

“Optics and perception are going to rule the day in this race more so than substance,” Presto said. “And Trump looked every bit himself and Biden looked every bit what his party denies him to be, feeble and struggling.”

He lamented the lack of fact-checking on the CNN broadcast, but said Biden appeared too feeble to earn his vote.

Presto was one of several Western Pennsylvania voters who TribLive spoke with after watching Thursday night’s debate between Biden and Trump.

The two men battled in a contentious forum hosted by CNN, the first-ever match-up between a sitting president and a former one. There was no studio audience during the debate. The moderators rarely intervened and did not fact check the candidates.

Biden sounded hoarse throughout the debate and often gave rambling answers, and seemed to grapple with his well-documented stutter.

Trump was quicker to respond and spoke confidently, but declared many falsehoods and made some outrageous claims, including calling Biden a “very bad Palestinian” when talking about Israel.

But Biden struggled to respond forcefully to those claims. As the debate wore on, Biden’s performance improved but the perceptions of his performance appeared baked in, and Pittsburghers noticed.

Michael Dillon, 45, of Pittsburgh’s Westwood neighborhood is a civil engineer and registered Democrat. He was not impressed by Biden’s debate performance, but said he still is not supporting Trump.

“I will 100% never vote for Trump,” he said. “I voted for Biden in 2020. After tonight, I may just not vote.”

Jacob Pavlecic, 27, an attorney and Democratic committee member from Richland, said he was worried before the debate how Biden would come across. He acknowledged that Biden sounded bad and often looked confused.

Because Trump came across stronger he believes he won the debate, but noted the Republican candidate was incoherent and a “lying mess most of the time.”

He is still voting for Biden, and hopes the president will do better at the second scheduled debate in September.

The most recent national polls show a tight race between Biden and Trump. A YouGov poll taken between June 23-25 showed Biden and Trump tied at 42%. A New York Times/Siena poll taken over June 20-25 has Trump up 40%-37% over Biden.

Like they often do, Pennsylvania polling mirrors national polling. An Emerson College poll taken from June 13-18 among Pennsylvania voters, had Trump leading 45%-43% over Biden.

Mike McMullen, 54, is a consultant from Gibsonia and a Republican delegate for the Republican National Convention.

He supports Trump, and said the former president was sharp and on message. The debate only strengthened McMullen’s support of Trump.

“Trump won hands down,” McMullen said. “It just proved to me that Joe Biden’s mental acuity is beyond reproach.”

Sarah Valerio, 39, of Jeannette, disagreed.

She is an attorney and a Democrat. She believes Biden won because she said his answers offered more substances than Trump’s.

“Honesty, intelligence and accountability matter more in a leader than bravado,” she said.

She acknowledged that Biden looked old and not sharp, but said that Trump came across “angry, vengeful, uninformed and dishonest.”

Valerio will continue to support Biden.

“Nothing in the debate changed my vote or stance on the candidates,” she said.

Ken Smith, 26 of Moon Township, works in software sales and is a registered Democrat.

He said he didn’t enjoy watching the debate because the candidates didn’t do a good job at answering the questions at hand. He said Trump dodged questions more than Biden.

He said both candidates also lamented the moderators for not fact-checking or controlling the candidates. Smith was especially perturbed when the debate descended into an argument about each candidate’s golfing abilities.

“It was extremely frustrated to watch that,” he said. “At one point, Donald Trump started a golfing argument with President Biden. Perhaps America as a whole would be better off taking a mulligan on the next four years, regardless of candidate.”

Smith believed that both candidates won the debate. He said for those looking for better answers on policy, Biden appeared the winner. But those looking for an emotional connection, Trump won.

Joe Mistick, a Duquesne University law professor and local political expert, said the debate probably didn’t shock many viewers and did little to alter perceptions of the candidates.

“Going into this debate, there were those who thought Joe Biden was gonna look old, and those who thought Donald Trump was going to lie through his teeth,” he said, “and nobody was disappointed.”