The first presidential debate of this election cycle took place last Monday. With 84 million people watching, it was the most-viewed U.S. debate of all time.

Trump and Clinton battled it out. There were some highlights, many lowlights, and even more sniffles. The second debate, which will be town hall-style, has a lot to live up to this Sunday night. Ratings could potentially be lower than the last debate, because last Monday night there was only one football game on, whereas Sunday has most of the games in the NFL.

With ratings above 80 million, it’s tough to argue that debates are not important for exposure and gaining depth on the candidate. They might even be the biggest tool that the candidate uses.

Then, last night there was the vice presidential debate. In a not-so-surprising event that everybody saw coming, the vice presidential debate didn’t have bad ratings — they didn’t even exist.

In a poll asking who won the VP debate, every single respondent answered the first question of, “Did You Watch the Debate?” with “No” and then gave an excuse about a prior engagement they had.

There are a few reasons why it is shocking the VP debate not only didn’t change any minds, but didn’t have any viewers at all. First off, it was on a Tuesday night. Everyone is busy Tuesday nights, as everyone knows it is the most popular time of the week to not watch TV. Even Tim Kaine showed up only five minutes before they went on air because he was on carpool duty for lacrosse practice.

The timing of the debate wasn’t the only issue — it was the two candidates as well. America is interested in the Trump-Clinton debates because they like to see crazy people interrupt each other. Why else would we have reality television? But sending your sidekick doesn’t do much for anybody. Nobody would have cared to see Snooki’s middle sibling.

The debate was like watching a conversation between your biological dad who you never see and definitely hates gay people, and your stepdad who plays the harmonica.

The exchanges between the two were mostly small talk that didn’t connect from Kaine’s end, and menacing glances from Pence’s end — probably because he is suspicious of anyone in khakis who plays the harmonica.

Because the debate lacked substance of any form, it wasn’t covered by any legitimate news sources. Those in attendance, the staff of the facilities of Longwood University, said the only people in the auditorium were the candidates, moderator Elaine Quijano, and the Home Shopping Network.

Evidently, C-SPAN passed on the event, saying, “We chose to cover an argument between two aides in an empty Senate chamber. We chose ratings over information.”

The only question is, with the supposedly horrible health of each candidate — Clinton’s former pneumonia and Trump’s debate sniffles, should we be more informed about the people who would take over for the future president?

“No, because they’re boring,” said the American voters on Tuesday night.

Josh Feinblatt is a sophomore television, radio, film major. He didn’t watch the VP debate either, but he still wrote about it. You can follow him on Twitter @josh_is_fein or reach him at jfeinbla@syr.edu.

Published on October 5, 2016 at 12:01 am