"All politicians are morally corrupt," said Emory Walden, a student in Atlanta. "I'm gonna take the lesser of the two evils."
by Xiong Maoling, Hu Yousong
ATLANTA, United States, June 27 (Xinhua) -- At a bar less than a kilometer away from CNN's Atlanta studio, the first 2024 presidential debate was broadcast on TV screens, featuring incumbent President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump exchanging barrages, but it seemed to have attracted little attention from customers.
"I heard that they played the debate here at the bar. But I didn't watch it," Greg Brown, a customer at the Rowdy Tiger Whiskey Bar & Kitchen, told Xinhua. "I don't think many people paid attention to it."
Greg Brown and his wife Kathy Brown traveled from Baltimore, Maryland, to Atlanta on Thursday, not to experience the atmosphere of the first presidential debate in the city, but to watch a Copa America soccer game. The Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta was bustling during the evening, with fans wearing jerseys seen everywhere downtown, overshadowing the presidential debate.
A bar customer who preferred not to be named told Xinhua that she did not pay attention to the debate this evening, nor was she interested in this year's presidential election. She expressed disappointment with both potential options.
Her thoughts seemed to reflect the feelings of many Americans: dissatisfaction with both options, hence a lack of interest in the election. Multiple polls have shown that a majority of Americans do not want to see a Biden-Trump "rematch" and are concerned about their governing abilities.
Across the street at another bar called MidCity, Kevin, a supporter of independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., also did not watch the debate. He told Xinhua that under America's two-party political system, the Democratic and Republican parties have become too powerful, making it difficult for other candidates to challenge them.
Kevin noted that Kennedy Jr., the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy, has a lot of support across the country but is unable to participate in the debate. "I don't think that's a very fair representation of democracy," he said.
Regardless, whoever is elected in November will face a daunting challenge to restore public confidence in the U.S. government.
A survey released earlier this week by the Pew Research Center showed that only 22 percent of Americans say they trust the government to do "what is right always or most of the time," with 60 percent expressing disappointment with the federal government. The survey pointed out that trust in the federal government among Americans has been hovering at historically low levels for nearly 20 years.
While some people chose to make the presidential debate "background noise," the "verbal barrage" between Biden and Trump was still intense, even involving personal attacks. Trump called Biden the "worst president" in American history. Biden criticized Trump's moral standards, calling him a "convicted felon."
The two held starkly different views on key issues such as economic policy, immigration and border security, abortion rights, and foreign policy, with almost no consensus on anything. Their intense exchanges are the microcosm of the extreme division in American politics.
Kathy Brown told Xinhua that soccer is a unifying sport in the United States, as many people went to watch the game and cheer for the American team this evening, showing unity. However, on the debate stage of the presidential election, she could only see division, which she found "ironic."
Near CNN's studio is the campus of the Georgia Institute of Technology, where about a dozen students gathered in front of a building to watch the debate.
Emory Walden, a student waving a flag with "Trump 2024," told Xinhua that Atlanta is mostly liberal, and his conservative group, which he and his friends belong to, is a minority in this predominantly Democratic city. "At school, I avoid talking politics with classmates. I don't want to get yelled at," he said.
Walden said that despite Trump's legal troubles and moral issues, he still supports him, mainly because of his economic and immigration policies. "All politicians are morally corrupt," he said. "I'm gonna take the lesser of the two evils."■
(Xinhua correspondent Sun Ding in Beijing also contributed to the article.)
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