Over the past two weeks, we saw Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump face off in what was hyped up to be a very vicious debate — people sat down for the entertainment, the show they knew that they would get. The candidates did not fail to deliver. Trump and Clinton brought their performance “A-game” and wowed us with theatrics. Between Trump’s use of words like “braggadocious” (that made him sound all too much like President Bush and his vocabulary), and Hillary Clinton’s shimmy that rivaled that of Shaquille O’Neal in the Gold Bond commercials, we got what we asked for. When asked who the winner of the debate was, we seemed to get two answers. The main theme that people seemed to pick up from this debate was that Hillary was its winner. However, in a large number of polls conducted online, opinions showed that neither won the debate. It is possible that Hillary Clinton seemed more presidential throughout the first debate, but she and her ideas still lost overall. People wanted to see real solutions being proposed to the social, economic and foreign issues we face, and many viewers seemed to just be disappointed by the results, unsatisfied with the idea of either candidate running our nation.

Meanwhile, this week we expected, and got, a far more tamed debate from the Vice Presidential candidates. On the Trump team, Mike Pence came across as quite the breathe of fresh air that we needed in this election season. He came across as calm, collected, polished and rarely interrupted. I’d say in most ways he came across more presidential than the Republicans’ actual presidential candidate, making a lot of people wish that he was the one running on the top of the ticket. In many ways as well, this debate was more substantive, containing more policy ideas than Clinton vs. Trump. Pence clearly showed a command over the facts, but most times seemed like he was championing the party’s platform rather than their choice in presidential candidate. This was good for them because it showed a clear distinction from Trump, one that he so desperately needed to make.

One of the most shocking things of the past two weeks, to me, is that neither ticket has gotten a significant bump in their polling numbers. Clinton is still holding a lead over Trump, but it is not as significant as many think. This makes me wonder why, and honestly, I don’t have a good answer to the question. A lot of Trump’s rhetoric has been inflammatory to many of groups of people, and while Hillary Clinton hasn’t been all to clean herself, she still maintains the image as the polished politician — one that could win many Americans over as appearing more presidential. With little over a month left to decide, many Americans must search deep within their souls as to which would be the better choice, and I think both debates have given us good information to grapple with. Stay tuned on October 9 and 19 for the final two presidential debates.