Presidential Debate by U. Kapadia

2016 Presidential Debate by Utsavi Kapadia, MPH ‘18

In September 2016, Hofstra the U.S. Presidential Debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), a bipartisan organization formed in 1987, organized three debates among the major presidential candidates. Hofstra is the first university to host three Presidential debates.

On the debate day, the University was buzzing with energy! Every major news channel was on campus interviewing students, faculty, and other election experts. The debate was divided into six segments, each of approximately 15 minutes in length, with the moderator introducing a topic and giving each candidate two minutes, followed by approximately 8 minutes and 45 seconds of facilitated discussion between the two candidates, with both candidates receiving approximately equal time. The questions discussed during the 90 minutes were at the sole discretion of the moderator, and were not shared beforehand with the commission or with either campaign. Each candidate spoke in front of a podium. Besides applause at the beginning and end of the debate, there was no audience participation allowed, but sporadic applause occurred at various points throughout the 90 minutes. The segments were on the economy and job creation, trade, the federal deficit, race relations and policing, the war on terror, the foreign policy of the United States, and each candidate's experience in the political and business realm. Viewership of this debate was so big. People were watching them even on YouTube and Facebook. It set the record as the most-watched debate in American history, with 84 million viewers.