The bar was fairly low for the final debate but similar to the vice presidential debate, I was pleasantly surprised. This fair show of intelligence and knowledge shattered all of my expectations and gave the people of America what they have been looking for: substance. After pushing through the bickering and childish behavior, the final debate unearthed actual policies and plans to help voters decide who they would be bubbling in on their ballots Nov. 3rd.

Hosted just 12 days before the election, the two candidates acted more mature than they have throughout their entire campaigns. It was as if it finally hit them that this was their last chance to prove that they were the right choice for president and better than their opponent.

Although not a better debater than Vice Presidential counterpart Mike Pence,  President Trump answered more questions that night than he and Pence have, combined, in the previous debates. He still dodged a lot of topics and spewed his usual mantra of attacks of Biden’s climate policy and his son’s scandals but there was also an overwhelming amount of substantial answers.

Biden was stronger than ever in his delivery of plans and ideas, rivaling his V.P. pick Kamala Hariss’ display of intelligence. Biden also did a better job of keeping his cool against Trump’s antics this time around. 

Leading up to the debate, viewers were informed that during the initial two minutes of questioning, microphones would be muted to avoid a repeat of the first debate — in which both candidates could hardly get a word in. This was not needed at all as the most civil conversation of the night was featured in the opening statements. This would have been more beneficial towards the end, when they both started trying to bulldoze over each other; ideally, muting their mics is something that should have been applied throughout the entire debate. It will be interesting to see if they continue this practice in the future.

The closure of this final debate struck clear for many people that this is the end of the line. Minds are made up and now it is all up to the ballots. We will not know the true impact of these debates until election day, which will reveal whether Trump was able to maintain his role of Commander-in-Chief, or if Biden won over America.