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O’Dowd Debaters Offer Advice for Clinton and Trump

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#1 NAME: Toni Carter AGE: 17 CLASS: 2017

What advice would you give to Trump and Clinton for their upcoming debate on Monday night?

I would advise Trump to curb his blunt opinions to appeal to minority voters if he wants to gain the slightest percentage of their vote. I would advise Hillary to take a more light-hearted approach and counter Trump’s blunt opinions with fairly blunt responses.

How should they prepare to debate each other?

I would tell Clinton to capitalize on her offense. To avoid contributing to negative gender stereotypes, it would behoove her to correct Trump when he provides incorrect facts. I would advise Trump to focus on big picture ideas because his weakness is the recitation of facts and statistics. By Trump making sure to stick with his slogan and bolster his wall argument, he’ll perform better in the debate.

What do you think are the strengths and weaknesses of each candidate?

Hillary is smart and should not be underestimated – if Trump does present facts or statistics without a firm understanding concerning the issue, she will be able to mentally outmaneuver him. However, her weakness is her demeanor, coming off as snooty serves her a great injustice. Trump’s strengths are his outspoken, blunt nature because he has the ability to make Hillary’s very serious issues seem menial. Unfortunately, his weakness is his strength; Trump’s lack of a filter put him in jeopardy when trying to recruit minority voters.

What things should they do or not do during the debate?

Hillary should definitely not try and speak over Trump or attempt humor because those two things definitely do not play to her strengths. Trump should try not to say anything too offensive.

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<img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-5362 lazyload" src="http://www.bishopodowd.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/image003.jpg" alt="image003" width="258" height="342" srcset="https://www.bishopodowd.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/image003.jpg 258w, https://www.bishopodowd.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/image003-226x300.jpg 226w" sizes="(max-width: 258px) 100vw, 258px" /> #2 NAME: Isabel Weinerth CLASS: 2017

What advice would you give to Trump and Clinton for their upcoming debate on monday night?

I would advise Trump to maintain a filter on his thoughts in order to be respectful towards those he may disagree with, and to specifically state his plans rather than describing them in vague terms. I would tell Clinton to be honest and convey the gravity of recent events regarding terrorism and race relations. To both candidates, I would stress the importance of focusing on current issues that voters have been discussing in the past week.

How should they prepare to debate each other?

The candidates should prepare by ensuring they feel comfortable discussing any and all topics they think will be brought up, as media outlets across the nation will be waiting for one of them to misstep, just as Gary Johnson did when asked about Aleppo. Likewise, the candidates should know their strengths and weakness enough to know which topics and areas of discussion to which they should draw the most attention.

What do you think are the strengths and weaknesses of each candidate?

The candidate’s strengths seem to set them as polar opposites of one another: Trump’s willingness to break the political mold through flirting with extremism sets him apart from the typical politician of whom his supporters have grown so tired; Clinton on the other hand possesses immense experience in politics and has stayed dedicated to American government throughout the majority of her life.

Regarding biggest weaknesses, both candidates struggle immensely with likability. For Trump, this is largely due to his lack of a filter, unpredictable attitude, and his very small amount of knowledge about policy issues. Clinton’s low popularity mostly results from her history of shadiness and dishonesty.

What things should they do or not do during the debate?

The candidates should not speak over one another, but still try to maintain dominance over the debate; getting into a yelling contest does nothing for viewers, but using the time to discuss issues important to the candidate’s party is appealing to American citizens.

Other suggestions?

Keep the ultimate well-being of the United States in mind! This may be a debate between two parties who disagree on seemingly everything, but in the end we all want just what’s best for our country–undecided voters will appreciate a focus on the American people over a focus on partisanship.

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<img class="alignnone size-large wp-image-5363 lazyload" src="http://www.bishopodowd.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/image002.jpg" alt="image002" width="258" height="342" srcset="https://www.bishopodowd.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/image002.jpg 258w, https://www.bishopodowd.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/image002-226x300.jpg 226w" sizes="(max-width: 258px) 100vw, 258px" /> #3 NAME: Michael Jayasuriya CLASS: 2018

What advice would you give to Trump and Clinton for their upcoming debate on Monday night?

 A large issue with presidential debates is avoiding the question asked of them with a long and drawn out broad strokes remarks about either their policies or the status quo. Often, debaters just take sound bytes and recycle them for many – often completely different – questions. Instead of doing this, they should directly respond to questions with pragmatic and understandable answers that will make it easier for the audience to understand the nuances of each campaign.

How should they prepare to debate each other?

I think both sides need to understand the fine details of their policies, otherwise the other side will spend the debate questioning the implementation of said reforms. Often times during these debates the ends are ignored and the means are questioned, and if the debaters know how exactly they are going to get their plans and policies to become a reality, we will have a much more educational and comprehensive debate.

What do you think are the strengths and weaknesses of each candidate? Donald Trump has a lot of emotion, and regardless of whether his emphatic and coarse language is a good thing, directing that emotion and craze into common sense explanations of what exactly he is going to do during his presidency will greatly benefit him and his standing during the debate.

Hillary Clinton always has an uphill battle debates because of the amount of controversy associated with her, and it is important for her to make sure that she addresses these controversies accordingly, but she must do so quickly in order to go back to the issues that her candidacy is built on. She should avoid an email based debate or health based debate (which we are probably going to see) and should not let the debate distract from the issues.

What things should they do or not do during the debate? Debaters really need to not let their emotions get out of hand and let the debate turn into a expletive loaded shout-fest. They need to contain their emotions and remember that telling the voters what they will do when in the oval office is really what will matter most to their success.

Other suggestions? Overall, the most important things that the debaters can do is to quell their emotions and think about what they are going to say before they say them.

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#4 NAME: Sophia Yau-Weeks CLASS: 2017

What advice would you give to Trump and Clinton for their upcoming debate on Monday night? My advice for Trump and Clinton for their upcoming debate is to reiterate what the future holds, not just to restate their ideologies, but what they will actually do to carry out their beliefs within our government.

What do you think are the strengths and weaknesses of each candidate? To prepare to debate each other, both candidates must be familiar of the opposition’s arguments. This way, the candidates can maintain clash so that the debate remains a discussion. Through refutation, the candidates are able to put their arguments side by side allowing the viewers/audience to assess both candidates and compare their viewpoints.

What things should they do or not do during the debate? Hillary: Strengths: Experienced, passionate, persistent Weaknesses: seems untrustworthy Trump: Strengths: Honest Weaknesses: Derogatory, disrespectful, lacks knowledge of policies and current issues, and often avoids answering the questions at hand among other things

Other suggestions? I would say that both candidates should avoid interrupting the other and should stay respectful throughout the debate. I would also recommend that the candidates avoid derogation. They should address every question asked with complete honesty 

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