Who’s in better condition to be the president?
After the presidential debate Thursday night, that’s a question some Boston-area voters were asking themselves Friday.
Around the Boston Common, enjoying a breezy and sunny day, voters had mixed opinions about the exchanges during the debate and who they will vote for come November.
Some expressed concern over President Biden’s halting performance, while others said they didn’t trust former President Trump to lead the country.
Trump is ahead of Biden by a small margin — 41.1 percent to Biden’s 40.9 percent — according to a national poll by 538.
After watching Thursday night’s debate, political science students at Suffolk University Julia Karwacki and Ruby Walsh, who are both 20 said they are independents, said they aren’t satisfied with their options.
“It’s embarrassing to claim that we’re the most powerful country in the world and then have two, regardless of what political opinion you have, just laughable candidates,” Walsh said.
“It’s very difficult to make a decision with those two top candidates,” Karwacki said, “because it’s as if to be a president, you have to be over the age of 75.”
November’s election will be the first time the women vote in a presidential election. While they said they are undecided, they both said reproductive rights and access to abortion are some of the things they most worry about. Not just for themselves, Walsh said, but for women their age all over the country who don’t have protections in their home states.
“It’s really just weighing the options of like, what rights I get,” Walsh said. “I want to feel confident in my vote, especially because I am excited to be able to vote, [but] I don’t think I will feel confident even up to the November election in my vote.”
For Mike Fuhrman, 34, watching the debate made him “feel bad” for President Biden.
“I thought it was pretty clear and evident that President Biden is not quite fit to run in this next election or really to be the president,” Fuhrman said. “It was very clear that President Trump was more intellectually there.”
Fuhrman, a registered Republican and Providence resident, said his biggest issue this election is the economy and how the country is viewed on a global forum. He voted for Trump in the last election and will again in this one.
Soaking up the morning sun on a bench by Frog Pond, Democrat Jacob Roschen, 28, said he didn’t watch the debate because it wouldn’t change his opinion on who to vote for.
“We’ve seen them both in a presidency before,” Roschen said. “An hour long debate wasn’t going to change the history of what they’ve already done.”
Roschen recognized that Biden had difficulties communicating on stage, but still plans to give him his vote, his second time doing so. He trusts the current president more than his Republican opponent, who Roschen feels is motivated by fame and power.
“I trust [Biden] a little bit more to make decisions that are in the best interest of the general people instead of just his friends and family,” Roschen said.
Jepherson Cardoso, 35, moved to Boston from Brazil when he was 14. He became a citizen this year and will cast his vote for the first time. After being alarmed by Biden’s ability to communicate during the debate, he plans to vote for Trump.
“I’m really worried about if [Biden] wins, if he can actually be the leader,” Cardoso, who identifies as independent, said. “Especially now with war going on — the Ukraine war, the Israel one. I feel like he’s kind of weak now to be the president for the United States.”
Visiting Boston from across the pond — the one that divides the US and UK, that is — Gemma Phillips of Manchester, England was committed to being in her hotel room with her TV on to watch the debate unfold.
In her perspective, the debate wasn’t about content, it was about conduct. And while she disagrees with Trump’s policies, he “came across significantly better.”
Biden “wasn’t coherent at times,” Phillips, 38, said. “Conversely, you know, Trump was talking nonsense.”
“I think watching the debate, it made me realize that it’s actually very difficult for the American people to make a choice,” she said.
Natalie La Roche Pietri can be reached at natalie.larochep@globe.com. Follow her @natalaroche.