'Punchy' Debate Fails To Create Momentum For McEntire Per EBC Panel
In the immediate minutes following the Presidential Debate, EBC held a focus group panel with 8 citizens who had watched the debate to get their immediate reactions. Here's what they said:
Written by HEM
The most eye-catching part of a two hour text Presidential debate hosted by Calvin Coolidge was a consistent barrage of attacks from McEntire on the frontrunner, Kazaman. Less than 20 minutes in, the first barbs were thrown: "Kazaman, how do you intend to uphold a proper relationship between the Senate and Executive when you stonewalled it last term," McEntire asked, "And when you are currently in a judicial preceding for abusing your power as DEIA?"
But these punchy attacks, which persisted through the debate, didn't positively move the panel of eight citizens who EBC spoke with mere minutes after the debate concluded.
"I wish McEntire would have let off the gas a little more, a lot of his good responses were overshadowed by his hostile ones," A panelist told us. He was strongly supporting Kazaman prior to the debate, and maintained that level of support afterwards.
A voter who came into the debate undecided told us, "Saying nothing is better than burning yourself up completely which is what it looked like McEntire was doing by constantly attacking Kazaman — even though for most substance answers (where he wasn't just attacking Kaz) his answers were definitely better than Kaz's."
This voter is now supporting JayDee.
Panelists, however, also had some feedback for Kazaman — who at times was noticeably vague or providing particularly short answers to questions.
"Kazaman had boring and utterly nothing answers for almost all of the debate" one panelist said. A strong Kazaman supporter defended him, however, saying: "Kazaman had to go on the defense a lot in this debate. If he hadn't had to, I do think folks' perception of how [he] did in the debate would be somewhat different. Going on the defense is never fun."
Another panelist who is now planning to vote for JayDee barring reading anything surprising in the platforms summed up his impression: "McEntire was rabid, Kazaman was unengaged. JayDee was the only one that actually seemed Presidential."
Overall, 6/8 panelists thought McEntire lost the debate while 2/8 thought Kazaman lost. 6/8 of the panelists thought JayDee won, while 2/8 thought that Kazaman took away the gold medal.
Here is how support shifted in our panel:
BEFORE THE DEBATE:
Leaning/Strongly Gem: 2
Leaning/Strongly Kazaman: 2
Leaning/Strongly JayDee: 2
Leaning/Strongly McEntire: 0
Totally Undecided: 2
AFTER THE DEBATE:
Leaning/Strongly Kazaman: 2
Leaning/Strongly JayDee: 5
Leaning/Strongly McEntire: 0
Totally Undecided: 2 (One said they would not consider voting for McEntire)
Respondents felt that JayDee was able to stay out of the line of fire and post up a strong debate performance while avoiding most of the back-and-forth. JayDee did have some trickier moments, especially during the Radio Ministry question where he awkwardly tried to sidestep institutional problems with training in the Ministry. Additionally, when Kazaman asked him to give more input on supposed problems within Aegis, JayDee wasn't able to articulate anything concrete. However, these weaker moments were overshadowed by the volley of attacks from McEntire, that at one point escalated to asking whether Kazaman would interfere in the legal system for his benefit.
"If McEntire wanted to win the presidency, he definitely hurt his chances tonight. But if he wanted to make sure Kazaman didn't win the presidency, I think he had a decent night," One panelist mused. He was leaning toward Gem, but is now leaning toward JayDee.
In closing with our panel, inspired by the two one-word questions asked in the debate, we asked respondents to sum up each candidate's performance in one word. Here is what we heard:
JayDee: "Safe", "Barbie", "Safe", "Steady"
Kazaman: "Defensive", "Oppenheimer", "Halfway", "Incomplete"
McEntire: "Shots-fired", "Ken", "I hate Kazaman — and rules", "REVENGE!"
Please note, these comments are based on initial first reactions after a debate. The Panda Pen is running a more complete survey. And we encourage all readers to view the liveblog, read the candidates platforms yourself, and of course, read the debate in the #vp-and-p-debates channel on Discord.
