"There are nights when one is proud to be an American. This is not one of those nights," says Jon Margolis, former Chicago Tribune chief political correspondent and now VTDigger.org's political columnist.

Margolis has been covering politics for decades, but moreover knows first-hand what it was like to sit in moderator Chris Wallace's seat Tuesday. He was one of the journalists asking questions during the Bentsen-Quayle 1988 vice-presidential debates. 

"Trump tried to dominate. He failed. Biden tried to display vigor. He succeeded, but barely. These 'debates' are never really debates. They are more like forums. This one was just a disgrace," Margolis said. 

Chris Shays, a former Connecticut congressman who helped organize former Republican members of Congress to support the 2020 Biden-Harris ticket was equally disappointed. 

"I weep. The president brought the debate to a new low, and regretfully took Biden with him. I was embarrassed for my country.  I hope they don't have another debate. The vice-presidential debate will be head-and-shoulders above this," Shays said wishfully. 

Robert Flores, a former Manhattan and Justice Department prosecutor, wants to see improvement in the next two debates between President Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden.

"I was disappointed in the debate format, and the moderator’s loss of control. With respect to Joe Biden, I was personally offended in how he referred to the president of the United States and found his personal attacks rude and unbecoming," Flores said. "I was disappointed that the president was not effective in talking about his record."

"For example, he’s been specific about why he withdrew from the Paris Accords and every other international agreement we’ve left – because he ran and won on a platform of ending participation in any international agreement that penalized the United States or put us at a disadvantage. But he didn’t make that point tonight," Flores continued. "I think the first debate provides a lot of information on which to improve, but I was disappointed in how it went."

JoAnn Mueller – daughter of a police detective and a mother of five with 17 grandchildren and whose family hails from a Philadelphia suburb – also found the debates disappointing.

"Both candidates were very combative," she said. "I felt much of what Biden said was simply attacks and mostly lies about Trump's record. Trump spent most of his time defending himself." 

But one fellow Republican supporter for Trump thought Biden did better than expected and that Wallace was not at his best. 

"I think they kept Joe under wraps so that the Trump team would not know what to expect in the debate," said Carolyn Ewing, former president of the MidShore League of Republican Women, an organization affiliated with the National Federation of Republican Women. "Biden kept ranting off insult after insult. That had no place in any debate. He demeaned all the good Trump has done." 

But to one voter, the debate came down to trust. 

"To me, it comes down to trust and I do not trust Joe Biden to get us back to business. I also do not trust mail in ballots. I do trust requested absentee ballots but not unsolicited mail in," says Michale Sarkisian, a small business owner in Atlanta.

"Looking through my hospitality lens for nearly 30 years of involvement in the hospitality industry as well as travel related research with Cornell and the Incentive Research Foundation, I sum up the debate tonight with a solid vote for Trump," Sarkisian said. "Lockdowns are business killers. I appreciate that Trump encourages personal responsibility along with local decision making."