The two presidential front runners faced off on the same stage for the first time on Mon. Sept. 26, although one could claim that the two have been at each other’s throats for months already.
Some of Donald Trump’s main argument came from criticizing the fact that Hillary Clinton has already been in the political field for decades, emphasizing the fact that he is an “outsider,” which appeals to many voters dissatisfied with modern politicians.
Trump claimed that Clinton should have been fixing the economy for years.
“You’ve been doing this for 30 years. Why are you just thinking about these solutions right now? For 30 years, you’ve been doing it, and now you’re just starting to think of solutions,” Trump said to Clinton during the debate.

In turn, Clinton called out her opponent’s past racist and sexist statements including his voice in the “birtherism” movement (questioning whether President Barack Obama was born in the United States) and his comments about women.
“This is a man who has calling women pigs, slobs and dogs and someone who has said pregnancy is an inconvenience to employers, who has said that women don’t deserve equal pay unless they do as good a job as men,” Clinton said of Trump.
When she criticized Trump’s past denials of climate change, Trump insisted he said no such thing. However, his tweet claiming that climate change is a Chinese hoax gained significant attention that evening.
“He just wanted to sound good on national TV. He doesn’t think that older people will go to Twitter and dig up his past statements or that reporters will call him out on it. It’s easier for younger people familiar with social media to find these things, but we can’t vote,” said Adam Zhang, 12.
As for actual platforms, they discussed taxes, with Trump favoring large tax cuts and Clinton planning to raise taxes for the wealthy and minimum wage, which Trump said would not be necessary with his job creation and Clinton in support of raising.
They also debated making jobs, with Trump planning to place tariffs to prevent companies from leaving the country and Hillary hoping to invest in energy, as well as their respective scandals (emails, Trump’s tax returns).
A “CNN” poll over 521 voters found that 67 percent felt that Clinton won. However, informal polls conducted by “CNBC” and “Slate” favored Trump.
The second debate will take place on Oct. 9, and the vice presidential debate will be on Oct. 4.