President Barack Obama and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney engaged in a heated second presidential debate Tuesday night in New York, trading jabs over a wide range of domestic and foreign issues.
The first question of the typically confrontational town hall-style debate came from a college student set to graduate in 2014, Jeremy Epstein, who expressed concern over the lack of available jobs post-graduation.
Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, said he would ensure students could afford a college education and avoid debt by continuing to grow the Pell Grant program and keeping student loans in place. He also repeated his pledge to create 12 million new jobs in four years.
“When you come out in 2014—I presume I’m going to be president—I’m going to make sure you get a job,” Romney said.
While Obama has often emphasized his Pell Grant reforms on the campaign trail, Obama responded to the question by emphasizing his larger economic plan to invest in infrastructure, energy and education.
“If we do those things, not only is your future going to be bright, but America’s future’s going to be bright as well,” Obama told Epstein.
One of the tensest exchanges throughout the 90-minute debate dealt with energy policy, when Obama and Romney bickered face to face over oil and natural gas production in the United States during the past four years.
Another tense moment came when the two candidates answered a question about the recent attack in Libya, which left a U.S. ambassador dead.
The president accused Romney of politicizing the act of terrorism on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi while the Republican nominee criticized the Obama administration, alleging it did not immediately calling the incident a terrorist attack.
The final presidential debate will take place next Monday in Florida.
