#4ThePeople: Local voters give their take on the final presidential debate

October 22, 2020 11:34 PM

Kyle Simchuk,

Posted: October 22, 2020 11:34 PM

Updated: October 23, 2020 6:01 AM

by Kyle Simchuk

SPOKANE, Wash. — We asked local voters to join us for a virtual discussion to see how they felt about the final presidential debate.

As you can imagine, a lot of voters are energized this election. More than 156,000 ballots have already been returned to the Spokane County Elections Office. That’s roughly 44% of all registered voters, and as of Thursday there are still 12 days to go.

They have already cast their ballot, though these local voters still tuned in to hear from both candidates.

“I felt like there was more of a policy discussion at least this time around. I left the first debate thinking I was watching Saturday Night Live,” said Jordan Magrath, who lives in Pullman.

“What made it better was the muting of the microphones, I think,” said Lin Sunseri, from Cheney. “It stopped them from interrupting each other, but it wasn’t a debate. It was back and forth of ‘No, you’re not telling the truth. No, you’re not telling the truth.”

Q: The candidates spent a lot of time attacking each other and defending themselves. Do you think they spent enough time talking about their policies? Did you learn anything else about those policies or those specifics?

“I wouldn’t say I learned anything new necessarily about policy,” said Magrath.

“Trump’s policies aren’t policies. It’s ‘We’re going to get rid of this health care and I’m going to give you my new one that I’ve been talking about for three and a half years that you haven’t seen,” said Derek Reynolds, from Spokane.

Q: What is a criticism you have of Joe Biden and what is something you feel he needs to work on?

“He wasn’t my first choice, Kyle,” said Sunseri. “I can’t think of anything except he’s too damn old. But then, so am I.”

“I think he absolutely needs to that, the whole Ukraine, the new, the new scandal with the laptop and his son,” said Reynolds. “I didn’t feel like Biden really addressed the new laptop issue to sway undecided voters on the other side, let’s say.”

“It is kind of a criticism to say like what have you done? You’ve been around for this long and what have you done? And I don’t want to say he’s done nothing necessarily but I think that has to weigh on voters that, you know, like, he’s had his turn to make the changes,” said Magrath.

Q: The country is divided right now, it’s still going to be divided after this election no matter who wins. What’s it going to take to bring Americans back together, you think?

“I wish I knew the answer to that. Honestly, yeah,” said Magrath. “That’s what I really struggle with because it’s really hard to go forward having that confidence that — to me what it takes is we have to have more bipartisanship.”

“Everything is going to fall apart before people realize that their neighbors are actually important,” said Reynolds. “Because we’re at a place right now where wearing a mask is an inconvenience to protect your neighbor. So the idea of being united right now is impossible until we all realize that we’re on the same team.”

4 News Now reached out to Spokane County GOP for more perspective, but they haven’t gotten back.

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