“DA Voices” is a recurring feature used to spotlight De Anza College’s diverse community voices. We ask the same question to different people and arrange their quotes so that readers can see varying points of view. Following the presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump on Sept. 11, reporters Gustavo Beas, Yumeno Matsuo and Frank Meyers asked, “What are your thoughts on the second presidential debate?”
Kian Miri, 19, a psychology major, said that he didn’t watch the debate, but he has a friend who watched it and he has seen a few highlights himself.
Miri said he didn’t agree with Trump’s comments on immigrants. While Miri said he doesn’t consider himself a Harris fan, he prefers her over Trump.
“He (Trump) said that people that are coming into the United States are the cause of problems, which I didn’t agree with at all,” Miri said.
Virginia Fibanzi, 22, a biology major and international student from Italy, expressed strong sentiment against former president Trump.
“I could never vote for somebody who got charged with 49 felonies, including sexual assault, Fibanzi said. “I could also never vote for somebody who doesn’t want to give me the choice to decide what to do with my body.”
Jakob Moore, 21, a business administration major, said that although he did not watch the debate because of work, he heard more about it from different media outlets.
“It’s been the same as what it has been, but I feel like it (past debates) wasn’t as argumentative as it is now. ” Moore said. “With a structured basis, you’re able to get topics voters want to hear from. When it’s argumentative, it’s not (providing) a clear vision and clear conversation.”
Chloe Palafox, 18, a biology major, said that she’s watched part of the debate.
“I don’t really have much of a strong opinion about it,” Palafox said. “I just turned 18 so I don’t really prioritize learning about that stuff; I don’t really have much to say about it.”
Sonia Gomez, 18, business administration major, said she did not watch the debate completely but got some main points of it.
“From what I saw, I think it was a pretty fair debate,” Gomez said. “A lot of people are putting out falsehoods on it — saying that it was rigged or something like that, saying the fact checking was wrong or unfair — when I didn’t think that at all. I feel like they both got fact checked if they said something wrong.”
Angeles Orozco, 24, a sociology major, said she also did not see the debate and got her information from different people; Orozco said that while she was confused, one of her finals is on the election so she had to immerse herself in it.
“I’m just very scared right now,” Orozco said. “I’m a little scared to have Trump be elected as president and I don’t have much background on Kamala … they (both) don’t sound credible.”
Orozco added that she felt both candidates were not focused on policy and were more focused on gaining media coverage.
“I feel like they speak just to get attention from the news outlets, rather than to actually want to make our country better,” Orozco said.
