A recent exercise at New York University reenacted the 2016 presidential debates—with the genders swapped between actors playing the parts of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.
And the results were surprising, even by the standards of the most contentious election in modern American history.
According to NYU, science professor Maria Guadalupe hooked up with Joe Salvatore, a professor of educational theater at the university, and developed a play, Her Opponent, in which actual excerpts of the Trump-Clinton debates are performed by an actress playing the part of Trump and an actor, Clinton.
In surveys conducted after the two sold-out performances took place on Feb. 28 (read a review of it here), audience members actually found the female version of Trump more charismatic and the male version of Clinton less likable than the real Democratic candidate.
“The simplicity of Trump’s message became easier for people to hear when it was coming from a woman—that was a theme,” Guadalupe told NYU News.
Watch a rehearsal of the play below.
—RealClearLife
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