Voters told NewsNation anchor Chris Cuomo that they favor Republican Pennsylvania Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz over his Democratic opponent, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, after the two faced off in a debate Tuesday.
Fetterman, who suffered a stroke in May, raised eyebrows as he repeatedly stumbled over words and struggled to clearly answer questions at the podium, even with the help of closed captioning. One independent voter said he initially leaned toward Fetterman but switched to supporting Oz after viewing the debate.
“I was definitely leaning towards Fetterman, and I think I have totally changed to the Oz side,” he told Cuomo. “I felt that Fetterman just looked like he didn’t have command of the facts. I do think his condition, unfortunately, is gonna affect his ability to do the job. I thought Oz was pretty clear on the issues, and I thought he presented himself well and definitely threw out some plans where I didn’t see any plans coming out of Fetterman.”
Another voter named Jessica, who is a registered Democrat, commended Oz for saying that he is opposed to a federal abortion ban. She said Fetterman’s performance was a “shocking,” but that he “improved” throughout the debate and that she remains unsure which candidate she will cast her ballot for on Election Day. (RELATED: Scarborough Says Fetterman Is ‘Obviously Impaired’ Following His Debate Performance)
Fetterman appeared to slip up when he said “good night” to the audience during his opening statement. He was also at a loss for words when pushed on his previous opposition to fracking.
“Uh, I do support fracking, and I don’t, I don’t — I support fracking, and I stand, and I do support fracking,” he answered.
A spokesperson for Fetterman’s campaign blames his poor performance on technical difficulties, claiming the closed captioning on which Fetterman relied was “delayed” and “filled with errors.” Nexstar Media Group, which provided the captions, said in a statement that the “closed captioning process functioned as expected” and that Fetterman had failed to take full advantage of the practice sessions Nexstar had offered to both candidates.