For many voters, the Biden-Trump debate means that a difficult choice has become even more difficult

WASHINGTON (AP) — The sound you may have heard after the presidential debate Last week, voters fell through the cracks.

Apart from the significant and inflated universe of Donald Trump’s supporters, the debate has suddenly highlighted the concerns of many Americans, including some of President Joe Biden’s supporters, that neither man is fit to lead the nation.

Heading into the first debate of the general election campaign, voters were faced with a choice between two strikingly unpopular candidates. They then watched as Trump said to A stream of untruths with sharpness, force and conviction, while Biden struggled mightily to secure talking points and even get through many sentences. It increased doubts about the 81-year-old Democratic president’s fitness to remain in power for another four years.

Now the options are even more daunting for many Democrats, undecided voters and anti-Trump Republicans. More than a few people had very conflicted views on the debate.

Outside a Whole Foods in downtown Denver on Friday, registered Democrat Matthew Toellner tilted his head to the side, mouth agape, echoing his favorite candidate, Biden, who occasionally saw it on the split screen as Trump spoke Thursday evening .

“I’m going to vote for Biden,” said Toellner, 49, leaning against the wooden cladding of the supermarket. “Actually, I might not.”

A few minutes later, Toellner looked at the street and thought about it again. “I’m going to vote for Biden, I think it would be crazy not to. But I just hate that I have to.”

His appeal to Biden and the Democrats: “Please resign, make sure someone is eligible.”

On a park bench in Detroit, Arabia Simeon felt politically homeless after voting Democratic in the past two presidential elections. “It feels like we’re doomed no matter what,” she said.

Trump’s disregard for the facts permeated his arguments, though he was rarely challenged on the details during the debate. For example, on abortion, one of America’s most divisive issues in generations, the former Republican president claimed there is universal agreement that states should decide its legality. There is intense debate about this.

But did that matter? The public response, in dozens of interviews across the country, was reminiscent of Bill Clinton’s post-presidency assessment of what voters want in difficult times: “When people feel insecure, they would rather have someone strong and wrong than weak and good. ”

The debate stirred up Simeon as much as Toellner.

The 27-year-old Detroit startup owner entered debate night deciding between Biden and an independent candidate, the most prominent of whom was Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is. Now she’s leaning against Biden.

“I think it just confirmed the feeling I had that this election was going to be extremely hectic, and it’s no longer a lesser of two evils conversation for me,” she said from a park bench during a work break. . “It’s more like both of these candidates don’t feel there are viable options.”

Simeon said that, as a black and gay person, it is “really disheartening to know that no matter how far we come as a country, we still have to reset the factory settings when it comes to being president and making a choice between two white men. .”

To a large extent, Democratic lawmakers in Washington and party officials in the United States closed ranks around Biden despite the panic that gripped many of them during his debate performance. But their comments were measured and appeared to leave an opening if Biden would do so the extraordinary decision to let the Democrats find another candidate.

“It is President Biden’s decision what he wants to do with his life,” said Sharif Street, chairman of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party and senator. .“So far he has decided he is our nominee, and I support him.”

It’s fair to say that many Biden supporters didn’t see anything to upset them, even though they often thought he messed up.

“Worrying,” Jocardo Ralston of Philadelphia said of Biden’s turn on stage. Still, Ralston said, “I have no conflict, nor do I feel like I’m choosing the lesser of two evils. … Biden is not the ideal choice for many, but for me he is the only choice, without regret or hesitation.”

The third-year doctoral candidate at the University of Pennsylvania, whose work focuses on the experiences of queer Black and Latino boys in special education classrooms, watched the debate at a bar in Cincinnati during a visit to the city. “All the work I do and everything I fight for is in direct opposition to Trump, his values ​​and his policies,” he said.

Biden delivered a livelier performance Friday at a rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, where he acknowledged that he is no longer the debater he used to be. “I know how to do this job,” he said. “I know how to get things done.” He attacked Trump in ways that escaped him the night before.

“I thought, ‘Well Joe, why didn’t you say that last night?’” said Maureen Dougher, 73, who called Biden “strong,” “definitive” and “very clear” in his rally remarks. In a debate watched by an estimated 51.3 million people, Biden’s performance “did not come across as well as today,” according to a preliminary estimate from the Nielsen company.

Amina Barhumi, 44, of Orland Park, Illinois, is affiliated with Muslim Civic Coalition and rates Biden and Trump in part on how she expects them to act in the interests of Muslim Americans. Also consider her demoralized about the candidates’ choices. She hears “basically the same rhetoric” from both.

“We have not-so-great options that are leading the ticket,” she said. “Yesterday was exactly that.”

“To be honest, I found it very difficult to watch,” she said of the debate. “I have teenagers and it felt like a lot of bickering and nonsensical swearing. And I think the American public expects more.”

Associated Press journalists Jesse Bedayn in Denver; Mike Householder in Detroit; Carolyn Kaster in Cincinnati; Melissa Perez Winder in Bridgeview, Ill.; and Makiya Seminera in Raleigh, North Carolina, contributed to this report.