While many political junkies ruled Wednesday night’s debate in Denver a clear and concise victory for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, students at Georgia Southern University saw things from a different perspective.
Most of the 30-plus students felt there was a lack of compassion and specifics given by both candidates. They felt that neither candidate lived up to their expectations or shared concerns that present-day students have.
GSU students gathered in a lecture room  at the College of Engineering and Information Technology to watch the debate and to discuss the issues afterward. Dr. Patrick Wheaton, a political communication scholar and former collegiate debate coach, introduced the debate with some interesting history. He prefaced the meeting by asking the students to “look tonight for ‘themes’ and not specific details.” He shared the history of presidential debates dating back to the very first televised debate in 1960 between John F. Kennedy and Richard B. Nixon. He stated that Wednesday night’s event was to “help build confidence in U.S. democracy.”
Wheaton challenged students to “focus on learning something new from the debate, not on who wins.” During the post-debate discussion, this question was posed again to those gathered.
Responses were very similar across the room: “I felt that both candidates failed to address the needs of the public tonight.” “Romney failed to give specifics about his campaign and how he could change the present predicament without raising taxes.” “I really didn’t learn a lot tonight about either candidate. They sorta left us all just hanging there.”
When Wheaton if the debate had changed anyone’s mind on who to vote for, only two raised their hands. One stated she had moved more toward President Barack Obama because he seemed to exude more compassion and care while Romney came across as “arrogant and business-like.”
Students felt that neither candidate covered the issues that greatly concern them today, such as  gay rights, women’s rights, abortion, the rising cost of education and the job market.  One young man said that both candidates agreed on a lot of the same things, even though the news media present them as total opposites.
While Romney was widely seen as more aggressive in the debate, the majority at the Georgia Southern discussion felt neither candidate gave them what they were looking for. Students expressed their dislikes for the constant back-and-forth bickering and had hoped for answers to their perplexing questions. On this rainy evening, they left with even more questions than before.
Georgia Southern has hosted debate events since 2000 and continues to give students forums  such as this to express their opinions and raise awareness of their concerns. This event was hosted by the Department of Communication Arts.