As they have in elections past, Siena’s political science faculty and students are offering commentary and analysis on the race for the White House.
Spectrum News attended a student watch party in Siena Hall on September 10 to get the Gen Z reaction to the Harris-Trump debate.
Lucas Helms '25, who chairs Siena’s student Republican Club, thought both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump both had a fairly good debate performance.
“This was really everyone's first introduction to Kamala Harris on a national stage,” he said, “although I don’t think we really learned anything new since we knew both of their platforms going into the debate.”
Matthew Connor ’25 agreed – and disagreed – with his fellow watch party attendees.
“I think Kamala Harris did slightly better than Trump, as far as what she said, how she said it, and getting her point across,” he explained. “But while Kamala was a better debater this time around, I don’t predict this debate did enough to substantially impact the election outcome. I look forward to reading about poll results in the coming days.”
Kevin Baron, Ph.D., assistant professor of political science and international relations, also weighed in on the debate. He had a very early morning on the set of NewsChannel 13, where he provided live analysis of the previous night's debate. His comments were repeated on the station's noon broadcast.
“Harris was very successful in laying out her position on the issues and her plans on what she will do if she is elected,” he told the anchors. “As far as an introduction to voters goes, it was very good.”
The Political Science department plans to have a vice presidential debate watch gathering on October 1, and an election night watch on November 5. Details to follow.
