Despair in the air: For many voters, the Biden-Trump debate means a tough choice just got tougher

WASHINGTON (AP) — The sound you might have heard after the presidential debate this past week was of voters falling between a rock and a hard place.

Apart from the sizable and pumped-up universe of Donald Trump's supporters, the debate suddenly crystalized the worries of many Americans, a portion of President Joe Biden's supporters among them, that neither man is fit to lead the nation.

Heading into the first debate of the general election campaign, voters had faced a choice between two strikingly unpopular candidates. They then watched as Trump told a stream of falsehoods with sharpness, vigor and conviction, while Biden struggled mightily to land debating points and even to get through many sentences. It added to doubts about the 81-year-old Democratic president's fitness to be in office for four more years.

Now, the options are even more dispiriting for many Democrats, undecided voters and anti-Trump Republicans. More than a few people came away from watching the debate very conflicted.

Outside a Whole Foods in downtown Denver on Friday, registered Democrat Matthew Toellner tilted his head sideways, mouth agape, in an imitation of his favored candidate, Biden, who was seen doing that at times on the split screen when Trump was talking Thursday night.

“I’m going to vote for Biden," said Toellner, 49, leaning against the wood siding of the grocery store. “Actually, I might not.”

A few minutes later, Toellner looked out to the street and rethought again. “I’m going to vote for Biden, I think I’d be a fool not to. But I just hate that I have to.”

His appeal to Biden and Democrats: “Please step down, get somebody electable."

On a Detroit park bench, Arabia Simeon was left feeling politically homeless after voting Democratic in the past two presidential elections. “It just feels like we’re doomed no matter what," she said.

Trump's disregard for the facts suffused his arguments, though he was rarely challenged on the specifics during the debate. On abortion, for example, one of America's most divisive issues for generations, the former Republican president claimed there is universal agreement that states should decide on the legality of it. There is ferocious argument about that.

But did that matter? The public reaction, in dozens of interviews across the country, brought to mind Bill Clinton's post-presidency assessment of what voters want in fraught times: “When people feel uncertain, they’d rather have someone strong and wrong than weak and right."

The debate unmoored Simeon just as it did Toellner.

The 27-year-old owner of a Detroit start-up went into debate night deciding between Biden and an independent candidate, the most prominent of whom is long shot Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Now she's leaning against Biden.

“I think it just kind of validated the feeling that I was having that this election is going to be extremely hectic, and it’s no longer the conversation of the lesser of two evils for me,” she said from a park bench on a work break. “It’s more like both of these candidates don’t feel like viable options.”

Simeon said that as a Black and queer person, “It’s really disheartening to know that no matter how far we come as a country, we’re still going to factory reset when it comes to president and have to make a choice between two white men.”

In large part, Democratic lawmakers in Washington and party officials across the United States closed ranks around Biden despite the panic that gripped many of them from his debate performance. But their remarks were measured, seeming to leave an opening if Biden were to make the extraordinary decision to have Democrats find another nominee.

“It’s President Biden’s decision what he wants to do with his life," said Sharif Street, chair of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party and a state senator. .“So far, he’s decided he’s our nominee, and I’m with him."

To be sure, plenty of Biden supporters saw nothing to throw them off, as much as they tended to think he blew it.

“Worrisome,” Jocardo Ralston of Philadelphia said of Biden's turn on the stage. Yet, Ralston said, "I’m not conflicted, nor do I feel that I am choosing the lesser of two evils. ... Biden is not the ideal choice for many, but he is the only choice for me, without regrets or hesitation.”

The third-year doctoral student at the University of Pennsylvania, whose work focuses on the experiences of queer Black and Latino boys in special education classrooms, watched the debate in a Cincinnati bar while visiting the city. “All the work that I do and everything that I fight for is in direct opposition to Trump, his values, and his policies," he said.

Biden turned in a more spirited performance Friday at a rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, where he acknowledged he is not the debater he used to be. “I know how to do this job,” he said. "I know how to get things done.” He assailed Trump in ways that eluded him the night before.

“I thought ‘Well Joe, why didn’t you say that last night?’” said Maureen Dougher, 73, who found Biden “strong,” “definite” and “very clear” in his rally remarks. In a debate watched by an estimated 51.3 million people, according to a preliminary estimate by the Nielsen company, Biden’s showing “didn’t come across as well as it did today.”

Amina Barhumi, 44, of Orland Park, Illinois, is affiliated with Muslim Civic Coalition and is sizing up Biden and Trump in part on how she expects each will act on the interests of American Muslims. Count her as demoralized about the candidate choices, too. She's hearing “essentially the same rhetoric” from both.

“We have not-so-great options that are front-runners on the ticket,” she said. "Yesterday was an affirmation of exactly that.”

“Quite frankly, I think it was very difficult to watch,” she said of the debate. “I have teenagers and it felt like a bunch of bickering and nonsensical name-calling. And I think the American public expects more.”

Associated Press journalists Jesse Bedayn in Denver; Mike Householder in Detroit; Carolyn Kaster in Cincinnati; Melissa Perez Winder in Bridgeview, Illinois; and Makiya Seminera in Raleigh, North Carolina, contributed to this report.

Jocardo Ralston, 47, from Pennsylvania, reacts as they look up to a television to watch the presidential debate between President Joe Biden and Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump at Tillie's Lounge on Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Cincinnati. "Biden has my vote because there is nothing at this point that Trump can say," said Ralston. For many voters in the U.S., there's despair in the air after the presidential debate this past week. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

In this image from video, Arabia Simeon speaks to a reporter following an interview Friday, June 28, 2024, in Detroit. Simeon said after watching the presidential debate between Democratic incumbent Joe Biden and Republican challenger Donald Trump that "we're doomed no matter what." (For many voters in the U.S., there's despair in the air after the presidential debate this past week. AP Photo/Mike Householder)

Jocardo Ralston, 47, from Pennsylvania, looks up to a television to watch the presidential debate between President Joe Biden and Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump at Tillie's Lounge on Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Cincinnati. "Biden has my vote because there is nothing at this point that Trump can say," said Ralston. For many voters in the U.S., there's despair in the air after the presidential debate this past week. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Democrat Matthew Toellner poses for a photo outside a grocery store in downtown Denver, Friday, June 28, 2024. After what he regards as President Joe Biden's subpar performance against Donald Trump, Toellner can't bring himself to fully commit to voting for the Democrat. For many voters not aligned with Trump, there's despair in the air. In dozens of interviews across the country, debate-watchers voiced dismay at the choices they have in November and some question whether both Biden and Trump are fit to serve. (AP Photo/Jesse Bedayn)

In this image from video, Arabia Simeon sits on a park bench during an interview with The Associated Press Friday, June 28, 2024, in Detroit. Simeon said after watching the presidential debate between Democratic incumbent Joe Biden and Republican challenger Donald Trump that "we're doomed no matter what." For many voters in the U.S., there's despair in the air after the presidential debate this past week. (AP Photo/Mike Householder)

President Joe Biden, right, and Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, left, are seen on a television at Tillie's Lounge during the presidential debate on Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Cincinnati. For many voters in the U.S., there's despair in the air after the presidential debate this past week. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Jocardo Ralston, 47, from Pennsylvania, looks up to a television to watch the presidential debate between President Joe Biden and Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump at Tillie's Lounge on Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

WEST BATH, Maine (AP) — A man who confessed to killing both his parents and two of their friends before shooting at motorists on a highway plans to enter pleas Monday that will resolve his criminal case, his lawyer said.

Joseph Eaton withdrew his insanity defense late last year and his defense attorney told The Associated Press that they anticipate “resolving” the indictments for four counts of murder and other charges during a change-of-plea hearing.

Prosecutors declined comment on any plea agreement ahead of the court hearing.

Law enforcement officials say Eaton confessed to the killings on a property in rural Bowdoin, and to wounding three more people while shooting at vehicles on Interstate 295 in Yarmouth. The shootings came days after Eaton was released from prison for unrelated crimes. Eaton has been jailed again since his arrest in April 2023 near the tumultuous scene along the highway, where traffic came to a halt as heavily armed police searched for the gunman.

Those killed were Eaton’s parents, Cynthia Eaton, 62, and David Eaton, 66, along with longtime friends Robert Eger, 72, and Patti Eger, 62, the couple who owned the Bowdoin home where they all were staying. Also killed was the family dog, resulting in an animal cruelty charge.

Soon after the bodies were discovered on April 18, 2023, three people were injured when shots were fired wildly on I-295 in Yarmouth, about 12 miles (20 kilometers) outside Portland, Maine's biggest city. Eaton faced separate indictments because the two shootings at the Bowdoin home and on the highway happened in different counties.

Maine Public Safety Commissioner Michael Sauschuck called the shootings “an attack on the soul of our state." But the heavy toll of the crime was surpassed months later when an Army reservist, who also lived in Bowdoin, killed 18 people at two locations in Lewiston, in what would become the state's deadliest mass shooting.

Police still don’t know Eaton’s motive for the slayings.

An unsigned note found at the scene of the killings mentioned “someone being freed of pain and that the writer of the note wanted a new life,” according to a criminal affidavit. Eaton told the Portland Press Herald newspaper in jailhouse interviews that he was not in control of his actions at the time of the shootings and didn't understand why he did it.

Eaton, 35, had a criminal history in Maine, Kansas and Florida, and had just completed a prison stint in Maine triggered by an aggravated assault case. Eaton’s parents were staying with their friends in Bowdoin after Cynthia Eaton picked up Joseph Eaton at a Maine prison on April 14.

FILE - Friends of shooting victim Patricia Eger gather at a Christian organization where she volunteered in Lisbon Falls, Maine, Thursday, April 20, 2023. Joseph Eaton, who's charged with killing four people, including Eger, and injuring three others, is due in court Monday, July 1, 2024, for a plea hearing which his lawyer said will resolve all of his criminal charges. (AP Photo/Patrick Whittle, File)

FILE - Investigators work at the scene of a shooting where four people were killed on April 18, 2023, in Bowdoin, Maine. Joseph Eaton, who's charged with killing four people and injuring three others, is due in court Monday, July 1, 2024, for a plea hearing which his lawyer said will resolve all of his criminal charges. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)

FILE - Joseph Eaton walks into a courtroom at West Bath District Court for his arraignment, July 28, 2023, in West Bath, Maine. Eaton, who confessed to killing his parents and their friends and firing at motorists on a busy highway after being released from prison, plans to enter pleas that will bring the criminal case to a conclusion, his lawyer said. (Brianna Soukup/Portland Press Herald via AP, Pool, File)