After the first 90-minute 2024 presidential debate was held Thursday night, June 27, between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, Athens natives reacted as one would expect — mixed and apprehensive.

The debate was hosted by CNN, with moderators Dana Bash and Jake Tapper questioning the two presumptive party favorites on various topics like abortion, immigration and international conflicts.

Bash and Tapper also acted as officials for the face-off, enforcing the debate’s strict minute restrictions for each question and rebuttal. Microphones were also muted when one candidate was not speaking.

The News-Courier reached out to dozens of Athens residents for comments on the debate, most of who wished to remain anonymous while others said they either did not watch the debate or had no interest in voting in November.

“I didn’t watch it because I don’t believe in either one of them,” Athens resident Brenda Holt said. “I don’t know who I’m going to vote for.”

Her opinion was echoed by Aaron Horton.

“I did not watch it at all,” the 31-year-old Athens resident said. “It seems like when elections start to come they start to pander to people, so what’s the point of paying attention, you should be doing that consistently.”

According to Nielsen Media Research’s fast national ratings data, 47.9 million Americans watched Thursday night’s debate in Atlanta, Georgia.

That viewership number is drastically down from the first debate of the 2020 campaign between Biden and Trump, which drew 73.1 million viewers according to Nielsen Media Research.

The decline in viewership could reflect the overall morale of voters.

“I actually felt sort of sad for our country,” said one 60-year-old Athens man who didn’t want to be named. “I’ll most likely still vote for Trump.”

Another 60-year-old Athens resident, who didn’t want The News Courier to use her name, said she watched just a portion of the debate, but felt alarmed for the future of America.

“I watched probably for about 25 minutes, and it made me really scared of what’s going to happen. It’s important to watch the debates, but I started getting sick to my stomach seeing how Joe (Biden) was acting and hearing the things Trump was saying.”

Still, some Athens residents remained hopeful and confident of the political landscape and the future of the United States.

“If we have more people trying to be better humans, then we would be in a better place entirely,” Vincent Graham, a 25-year-old Athens resident, said. “Everybody has things they want to see change in our country, and if they think they can do a better job, go run.”