Students cheered, groaned and laughed while watching the vice-presidential debate Thursday night at a viewing party in De Neve Auditorium.
Several large-scale viewing parties as well as scores of smaller events took place on Thursday, uniting students to watch vice-presidential candidates Sarah Palin (R-Alaska) and Joe Biden (D-Del.) square off at Washington University in St. Louis.
More than 100 students gathered in De Neve Auditorium to watch a broadcast of the debate coordinated by Election Invasion, a campus group run by the Office of Residential Life student leaders and resident assistants. The program enables on-campus residents to participate in the election as educated voters, said Mike Marcelo, the assistant director of Election Invasion.
This was the first of three debate-viewing parties that will be put on by the organization.
During the discussion, Palin and Biden debated issues such as the war in Iraq and how to best solve the current economic crisis.
“We need to make sure that we demand from the federal government strict oversight of those entities in charge of our investments and our savings, and we need also to not get ourselves in debt,” Palin said .
The discussion then focused in on the different tickets’ plans on health care, particularly the one proposed by presidential candidate John McCain.
“So you’re going to have to … replace a $12,000 plan with a $5,000 check you just give to the insurance company. I call that the “˜Ultimate Bridge to Nowhere,'” Biden said.
Both Palin and Biden used the stage to launch attacks on the presidential candidate of the opposing ticket, a tactic expected by several UC professors.
While both candidates’ answers were met with rapt attention from the crowd, it was Palin’s position on certain issues that got the most animated and active responses, with students regularly giggling and grinning but also clapping and hooting.
Such a reaction may be expected from a college campus where less than 10 percent of students identify themselves as conservative, according to Daily Bruin archives.
Despite this response from the crowd in the auditorium, a number of Republican students retained support for their candidate.
“She holds her own, she sticks to her convictions, and that makes it easier for her to speak from her heart,” said Stephen Crisafulli, the committee chair of the Bruin Republicans, before the debate.
For some students, the debate cemented their viewpoints on which candidate they will endorse.
“This did strengthen my opinions, (especially on) marriage and war in Iraq,” said Cody Geib, a first-year English student who said he plans to vote for McCain.
But Mark Peterson, a professor of political science and public policy, said that regardless of how the debate is seen in the days to come, the McCain campaign will have to work hard to fight the increasing surge toward Barack Obama, particularly in such battleground states as Ohio and Virginia.
“There’s been a steady, uninterrupted move toward Obama. The McCain campaign needs something to bring that to a halt,” Peterson said. “(Even if) people say she’s really ready for this job, the McCain campaign will still be swimming against a tide.”
Some students said that the dynamics of the election ““ where both tickets have candidates that are seen as inexperienced and unprepared ““ have induced the electorate to vote based on less substantial qualities.
“When you play the age dynamic, it creates an election that’s about emotions, rather than issues,” said Natasha Iyre, a first-year microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics student.
But others said that watching debates such as these are conducive to being informed voters.
“It’s a good thing,” said Jamie Thompson, a fourth-year political science student, who said she plans to vote for Obama in November.
“More people are getting involved. They’re looking at the ticket as a whole, instead of just at the top,” she added.