After last week’s Vice Presidential debate between VP Mike Pence and Senator Kamala Harris, we surveyed BSU students to see what you thought! After collecting responses for a week, this is what you said:

100% of respondents answered “yes” to this survey question.

16.7% of respondents answered yes and 83.3% of respondents answered no to this survey question.

In an open-ended question, what was your immediate reaction to the first debate, the answers varied in words but stayed similar in theme. Those responses were:

• 7% – “I was disappointed in how much Trump spoke”
• 7% – “is this a joke”
• 7% – “it was unsettling (but not surprising)”
• 3% – felt stress or frustration
• 7% – “crazy”

Switching gears to the VP Debate, 66.7% of respondents watched the debate while 33.3% of respondents did not.

When asked the same question as earlier, what was your immediate reaction to the debate, the responses were very different. Here is what the respondents said:

• 7% – “I think Pence failed to defend”
• 7% – “Kamala Harris is extremely good at debating”
• 7% – “much better than the presidential one”
• 7% – “much more civil”
• 3% – did not watch

100% of respondents already know who they are voting for.

Next, we asked whether or not you think debates help an undecided voter to make up their mind, the results were split three ways. 33.3% of respondents said yes, no, or maybe.

Finally, we asked, “why are you voting?”, here is what respondents said:

• “Not voting/ a vote for anyone other than Biden is a vote for Trump”
• “To fight for people who are hurt by racial injustices, covid 19, abortion, healthcare, etc”
• “I am voting because it is up to us to use our voice when it comes to electing public officials. If we do not like the way things are going, we have the power to change them, and elections are the first step towards change.”
• “Because I want to see a change in our country.”
• “I am more concerned with voting on statewide ballot questions than I am with voting on the presidential candidate; I do not feel that, in the electoral system, our vote has much impact on the election of the next president, but I do think that it is important to vote on state issues.”

We are less than 20 days away from the 2020 election. Are you registered to vote? If you’re a Massachusetts resident go to https://www.sec.state.ma.us/ovr/ to register, check your registration, find your polling place, and more!