Valley reacts to the Presidential Debate

EDINBURG, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Thursday night’s presidential debate is making headlines around the nation.

Many who watched the debate Thursday night say they were disappointed with the outcome.

President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump were scrutinized for their performances. Voters say Biden spoke poorly and Trump lied.

University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Political Science Professor Andrew Smith says the reaction does not indicate a shift.

“I doubt that it changed any minds, those who were committed to voting for Biden, no matter what, are going to vote for Biden," he added. "Those who were committed to Trump are going to vote for Trump.”

Garry Groves, a local Trump supporter, disagrees. Regarding Biden, he said, "The people in-between the people who are going to decide this election saw something that if they weren’t aware of now they know this guy is not in control of his faculties.”

Groves also thinks the debate was well-moderated, sharing his concern about “host interference” from previous debates.

"The way it was done was great. President Trump obviously killed it last night and Joe Biden came off really badly,” he said.

UTRGV student senator Skyler Howell somewhat agrees, even as a Biden supporter. However, he believes Biden’s message will speak for itself regardless of the debate.

“I’m not going to lie and say that was President Biden’s best performance, obviously it wasn’t, but like I said, if we’re looking at the substance behind those conversations," Howell said. "Us as Democrats and hopefully Americans can remain confident in President Biden and the Democrat's way of how they want to take the country moving forward.”

Howell remains assured that this is an early debate and that a lot can happen before the November election.

"More things pop up, more headlines pop up in September and hopefully, based on that second debate, maybe some of these shortcomings in the first debates from both sides might be forgotten,” he explained