Here’s what voters had to say following the first 2024 debate showdown between Joe Biden and Donald Trump

Atlanta CNN —

Larry Malinconico went to bed worried about President Joe Biden’s debate performance. He woke up thinking he should do something about it.

Malinconico is an independent and a college geology professor in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, a bellwether area in one of the nation’s most competitive presidential battlegrounds.

“I’m extremely concerned,” Malinconico said just after the CNN debate Thursday night. “President Biden performed poorly, His voice was weak. He stumbled and had difficulty staying on track with his answers.”

Still, he cannot fathom the alternative and ended his debate night take with this: “Despite my significant concerns about Biden’s capabilities, I will still vote againstTrump.”

Former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden debate at CNN's Atlanta studios on June 27, 2024.

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But early Friday afternoon, Malinconico reached out to add this: “After sleeping on the debate overnight … now I’m much more in favor of supporting moves to have President Biden drop out or for an open (brokered perhaps) convention.”

It was one of a flood of voter reactions highly critical of the president’s debate performance, and one of several suggesting the debate, at least in the short term, damaged the incumbent’s standing with voters critical to his reelection hopes.

Pat Levin is another Northampton County resident. The 94-year-old told us when we first met a few months ago that she was not worried about Biden’s age. She is still planning to vote Biden, but her reaction was also quite telling.

Levin had nice things to say about Vice President Kamala Harris and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, praising their interviews