14 Fairfield University students gathered at the DiMenna-Nyselius Library Tuesday night to watch the first presidential debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
But while room signs said the space was equipped to hold almost 100 people, the viewing room was left with mostly empty seats.
The Library announced the event through an email sent to students at 3:20 p.m., almost six hours before the debate was scheduled to start. The email encouraged students to take advantage of the “civic engagement opportunities” provided by the school and the StagsVote committee.
Jennifer Mottolese, research librarian at Fairfield University was grateful to give students another location to watch the debate.
“The library was glad to offer students the opportunity to watch the debate, become informed about the candidates who are running and make informed decisions come November.”
Mottolese says she’s unsure why more people didn’t stop by.
She said, “I always like to see students engaged in current events and what’s going on in the community.”
However some students say they were unaware the event was taking place at all.
Senior student Ava Raymond claimed she had “no idea” there was going to be a watch party.
Raymond hopes future events are advertised more through social media or posters around campus.
William Guider, a first year student, went to the watch party. He believes more promotion could grow attendance at future civic event opportunities.
He heard about the event only an hour before it began and does think other students are paying attention to the presidential race- regardless of the low turnout.
“A ton of my friends are in their dorms watching it, and in my own dorm in Jogues there are a lot of people in the common areas watching it on the TV.”
On Fizz, the Tuesday feed was evidence of student’s engagement with the debate. Many students in the Fairfield community responded to a Fizz poll sent out by a user who asked who planned on watching last night’s debate.
Over 1,500 users responded to the post and more than 60% interacted with the post by claiming they planned on tuning in.
In terms of the candidate’s debate performance, Guider said, “I think that both of them stood their ground pretty well.”
While Guider said he plans on supporting Donald Trump in the upcoming election, he believes Kamala Harris had a better performance in the first half of the debate.
However, this belief was not due to the vice president’s policy positions- but his perception of the moderators attitudes and word choice.
“I think that the questions that the moderators were asking were a little skewed.”
Guider said he believes the moderators asked questions aimed at making Trump look bad and Harris look good.
Although he watched the debate, Guider did explain he doesn’t believe they hold much weight when it comes to voters’ decisions.
Guider explained,”My mind was already made up going into it.”
Ultimately, he believes it is unlikely for people to switch the party or candidate they intend to support solely from watching a presidential debate.
Fairfield University will continue to promote the 2024 presidential race. On September 17, National Voter Registration Day, the Office of Student Engagement will hold an event where students can access voter information or register to vote.
The Fairfield University Media Center will also be serving as one of the town’s two early voting locations for the General Election in November.