On Thursday afternoon the Faculty of Arts hosted a live viewing of the final presidential debate in collaboration with the US Consulate General Auckland.
After watching the 90-minute debate, the packed audience got to hear analysis and commentary from TVNZ United States Correspondent Jack Tame, Associate Professor Stephen Hoadley and Dr Maria Armoudian, chaired by US Ambassador to New Zealand, Mark Gilbert.
Jack commented on a noticeably calmer and significantly more practised Donald Trump, especially in the first half an hour, and how Hillary Clinton never let him rattle her.
“I think both of them will have largely pleased their bases.”
There were some very engaged Politics and International Relations students and members of the public in attendance, who provided excellent fodder for the panel with their astute questions.
Maria argued that a lot of Americans don’t understand the policy complexities behind stagnant wages and the growing divide between the haves and the have nots.
“When Donald Trump says ‘make America great again’, he’s touching on that people really do have a sense that there’s something wrong, but they don’t quite see the tax policies that have contributed to this… there’s just a lot of things that have come together to create the circumstances of this increasing divide between the extreme wealth and everybody else, who are seeing their real incomes not cover as much.”
Steve pointed out that voting in America can be a difficult and time-consuming process, and that Republicans have historically been more diligent in turning out to vote on the day.
The panel closed with predictions about what we would see between now and Election Day.
Jack was very clear in his response: “Barack Obama, I think you’ll see a lot of Barack Obama.”
Our friends at 95bFM were in attendance to record the panel discussion, so that you can enjoy it too. Listen to the panel discussion.
