UNFILTERED: Residents reveal what they want to hear at tonight’s presidential debate

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — Anytime you set up a camera and a microphone, people tend to shy away. In fact, it took us roughly 30 minutes to get our first interview.

“I guess I want to hear about the immigration policies. I’m currently a resident, and I wish things would be a little simpler,” one man told our cameras.

We wanted to get to the core of what people care about.

So, we set up a sign simply asking people what they want to hear from either candidate in the first and possibly only debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. Their answers were all completely different.

“All right,” one man said. “I want to hear how both candidates are actually going to tackle the debt of our country. Nobody’s talking about that. Nobody, so that would get my attention.”

Polls will say a lot of things:

A recent one from Elon University revealed NC voters expressed concern about the state’s economy and their own financial situation. Many registered Democrats believe that abortion is a more important issue than Republicans.

What matters to the individual voter, we found, depends on who you ask, and their own person experiences.

“Let’s talk more about making the criminal system more fair,” one woman said. “I’m a rape victim, and right now I feel like the criminal system is not on my side.”

The latest Quinnipiac Poll shows our swing state is living up to its name. Harris now has the slight edge at 49% with trump trailing at 46%.

In 2020, Trump won North Carolina over Biden, just barely. In Tuesday night’s debate, Harris will look to turn the tide.

“I see a lot of money being spent for people that are coming over, but I don’t see a lot of that same money being spent to help out the people that are struggling that are currently citizens of the United States,” said another woman, “so, I would love to hear from either candidate about what they’re doing to take care of those that are marginalized in our community today. Thanks!”

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