National Football Fights Presidential Debate for Student’s Attention

Posted Fri, Oct 7, 2016

Auraria students meander around campus, Tuesday, Sept. 26. [Photo: Michelle Risinger]

DENVER—Sept. 26, 2016 held two showdowns of equal brutality, broadcast on national television. One was the presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, and the other was an NFL football game between the Arizona Cardinals and the San Francisco 49ers.

In Auraria campus the love for football is high and the passion for political activism is present. Despite the drastic difference in subject matter most students felt that both broadcasts were a source of entertainment. A member from a registration group on campus said, “The debate didn’t really change anyone’s mind. It just reinforced who we were planning on voting for.”

A voter registration group tries to rally students to vote on Auraria campus, Tuesday, Sept. 26. [Photo: Michelle Risinger]

The voter registration group held a party Monday night to bring attention to the debate and get more people in Denver registered. “The game was playing in the bar and the debate was going outside,” the group member said.

An undecided voter on campus said that she watched the debate instead of the game. She expressed her disinterest in politics in general, and said that the debate did not sway her one way or another. “It was quite the show, for sure. I just wish we had better candidates to choose from.”