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Party Insiders grade Lester Holt’s debate moderating job
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 Date: November 8, 2016 |
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September 27, 2016
By James A. Barnes
Just about everything and everyone gets viewed through partisan lenses these days including debate moderators. And Lester Holt, the anchor of NBC Nightly News who had the high-profile task of moderating the first general election presidential debate, got almost as much attention as the candidates themselves. Days before the big event, campaign spokespersons for both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump were setting almost as many expectations for Holt as they were for the two participants. The Clinton camp wanted the moderator to also play the role fact checker—something Clinton herself urged the rest of the media during the debate. The Trump team wanted a more benign moderator. And Trump himself openly wondered before the debate whether he could get a fair shake from Holt who might feel pressured by his journalistic peers to crack the whip.
Ballotpedia surveyed more than 160 Democratic and Republican strategists, pollsters, media consultants, activists, lobbyists, and allied interest group operatives, after the September 26 debate, and asked whether they thought Holt did an evenhanded job as moderator. Overall, Holt passed this test, but he came under criticism from both sides.
Not surprisingly, the two partisan sides viewed Holt’s performance differently. Among the 79 Democratic Insiders who responded, a whopping 89 percent said that Holt “treated both candidates about the same.” Only nine percent felt Holt “was harder on Trump than Clinton.” Two percent said Holt was “harder on Clinton than Trump.”
Republican Insiders had a much different view: of the 82 who responded to the survey, a majority, 54 percent, said that Holt was harder on Trump than Clinton, while 44 percent thought he treated both candidates equally. Only two percent felt Holt treated Clinton harder.
Republicans’ complaints about Holt centered on what they saw as his reluctance to probe Clinton’s responses or raise topics that were problematic for her. “I counted five challenging questions to Trump and one to Clinton,” said one GOP Insider. “Lester Holt is an embarrassment,” asserted another Republican Insider. “He went after Trump repeatedly. I counted one 'follow-up' to Clinton. Emails only came up when Trump mentioned them. Clinton Foundation [was] not mentioned.” A third Republican jabbed, “The next time he asks Hillary to elaborate or explain will be the first time.” And a fourth moaned of Holt, “Oh come on, he never once challenged Clinton.”
One Republican critical of Holt saw him as just a reflection of his profession: “The questions were what you would expect from left-wing media.” But another GOP Insider felt that Holt’s harder stance towards Trump was not out of bounds: “Questions were fair but harder on Trump.”
At the same time, a number of Republicans thought Holt was evenhanded in how he pursued his role as moderator. “Great job by a true professional,” Gushed one GOP Insider. “No one should complain about Mr. Holt.” Another called Holt’s job an “impressive performance.”
Some Republicans praised Holt for not asserting himself into the mix. “He let them debate,” judged one GOP Insider. Another echoed, “He was not part of the story which is just right.” Added a third, “Holt did the best he could within the format of the debate.” Another added, “I would say Lester lost control of the debate, but that implies that he had it to begin with. He provided very little redirection for off-topic answers and allowed Trump to get the last word on his support of the war in Iraq.”
While Democrats were nearly unanimous that Holt “treated both candidates about the same,” they displayed a much wider range of feelings about how good of a job the NBC News anchor did as moderator.
“I think he was very good, leaving room for the candidates, held is own when he had too,” judged one Democratic Insider. “Did a great job in a tough debate,” said another Democrat. “Lester was a star tonight,” gushed a third Democrat. “Great demeanor.”
A number of Democrats felt Holt didn’t have much of the grip on the debate—“He more or less let them go at it,” said one. But that sentiment elicited a range of feelings about the job Holt did as moderator.
Holt was “pretty hands off, and that was unfortunate,” determined one Democratic Insider. “He was too tentative and there were moments he needed to be more of a referee than a neutral observer.” Another noted, “The only fact-checking was when a candidate veered completely away from the question and the candidate that did that the most was Trump.”
Some Democrats said Holt should have done more to reign in Trump. “He failed to control Trump's repeated interruptions and the time clock showed that Trump had more air time,” charged one Democratic Insider. “Lester didn't command [and] control the debate and allowed Trump to undermine him as moderator,” asserted another.
“He didn’t moderate, he was a bystander occasionally trying to ask questions,” said one Democratic Insider. “He was a non-factor,” cracked another. “Was Lester Holt present?” asked a third. But some Democrats were more forgiving. “While there will certainly be lots of criticism of Holt for inattentive moderating, it was next to impossible to manage,” countered one Democratic Insider.
Given these varied observations it may well be that presidential debate moderators have just as demanding a task as the candidates up on the stage. And at least they can count on some partisan defenders.
James A. Barnes is a senior writer for Ballotpedia and co-author of the 2016 edition of the Almanac of American Politics.
See also
- Clinton earns a win in the first debate
- Presidential debate at Hofstra University (September 26, 2016)
- Presidential debates (2015-2016)
- Lester Holt
- Donald Trump presidential campaign, 2016
- Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, 2016
