Voters across the country tuned in to the presidential debate on ABC News on Tuesday night, watching Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump debate issues and share their visions for the country.

Many were curious to see how Harris would define herself on the debate stage, especially since she entered the race as a presidential candidate late in the race.

A number of undecided or previously undecided voters spoke to ABC News before and after the debate.

Before the debate, they shared what they hoped to see — and afterward, whether they thought Harris had made her case as a presidential candidate, and what they thought about a potential second debate between Trump and Harris. These voters also spoke to ABC News earlier in the election cycle, including before President Joe Biden withdrew from the race.

Patrick O’Rourke, a retired scientist and independent voter from Georgia, said before the debate that he did not trust Harris to be a “unifying force” for the country.

“If I can force myself to vote for VP Harris, it will be in the hopes of (divided party control between the presidency and Congress) … I’m hoping for a president who can respect the Constitution and earn the respect of our country,” he told ABC News via text message.

At 10:09 p.m. (Eastern Time), while the debate was still airing, he texted ABC News that he had turned the debate off.

“Former President Trump forced me to vote for VP Harris,” he said. The reasons: because of Trump’s discussion of Ashli ​​Babbit — a Trump supporter fatally shot during the January 6, 2021, attacks on the US Capitol — who, according to the former president, “was shot by an out-of-control police officer”; and after Trump promoted his support for Hungarian leader Viktor Orban, who is seen as an authoritarian.

However, that doesn’t mean he thinks Harris has taken a strong position or defined herself sufficiently.

Asked what he thought of her performance, O’Rourke said: “I still don’t know who she is, other than she’s not Donald Trump. That’s enough for now.”

Many voters feel they would benefit from more information about Harris and her platforms. A recent New York Times/Siena College poll found that 28% of likely voters said they needed to learn more about Harris, compared to just 9% of likely voters who said the same about Trump.

O’Rourke said Wednesday morning that he also has no interest in another debate.

“One is enough for this cycle. I don’t need to see another debate … I don’t need either candidate telling me what the other’s policies are,” O’Rourke said.

But he said he would like to see interviews with the candidates in which they discuss economic policy, foreign affairs and civil justice priorities.

Rebecca Bakker, a licensed nursing professor who lives near Grand Rapids, Michigan, told ABC News via text message before the debate that she was still undecided, even though she had said beforehand that she was not supporting Trump.

She hoped Harris would “deliver a clear economic message” and provide clarity on how she would address foreign policy and border issues.

Bakker told ABC News after the debate that the broadcast reinforced her decision not to vote for Trump. Trump did not strike her as a “presidential” person with clear policies.

“I think Harris did a good job of baiting him into falling apart during the debate and it worked to her advantage,” she said in a text message. However, she felt Harris was still a little “unclear” about how her positions on certain issues had changed.

“I’m still undecided – she hasn’t convinced me enough to vote for her (yet), but (Trump) has certainly convinced me enough NOT to vote for him,” Bakker wrote.

Bakker said she would like to see another debate to see if either candidate “reframes their narrative and addresses specific policy issues without ‘one of them’ losing focus and regressing to childish behavior,” she wrote. She added that she wants Harris to address the economy and border issues more directly.

“So far I don’t have a clear picture of her plans to address these areas.”

Karen Hughes, an independent voter and retired parole and probation specialist from Nevada, was previously undecided but had reluctantly decided to vote for Biden before he dropped out of the race in July. Before the debate, Hughes told ABC News via text that she was “hoping to see some policy discussions tonight. I’m curious to see Trump’s (final) position on abortion and Harris’ explanation of why she won’t ban fracking.”

The debate solidified her decision to vote for Harris, Hughes said Wednesday, because she felt Harris “presented herself as competent, positive and very confident. I felt like she knew exactly how to get inside Trump’s head and he fell for it every time,” Hughes said — though she said she felt Harris was still unclear about the shift in her position on fracking. Hughes also criticized Trump’s reliance on “wild conspiracy theories.”

But she is not looking forward to another discussion: “I think this one was good enough.”

Ian Mackintosh, a Pennsylvania voter who lives in the Pittsburgh area, also said he hoped to hear more about the policy before the debate. He told ABC News via text message on Wednesday, “I thought it was a complete waste of 90 minutes, to be honest. It’s made me feel more alienated from both candidates.”

He said he understands the challenges of discussing complex policy positions in depth in two minutes, but it “could have been more substantive” with “less sarcasm and intentional egging on of the other candidate.”

Mackintosh said he is also disappointed with Harris’ position on Israel and Gaza, which he said is the same as Biden’s.

He said he would not be interested in attending a second debate, adding: “After last night’s debacle I will probably only vote for the lower echelons.”

Brendan Fitzsimmons, a Wyoming physician who is a Republican but does not support Trump, told ABC News in a text message before the debate that he didn’t expect much from the candidates, “although I would like it if there was a lot of entertainment in it,” he said.

Fitzsimmons admitted he wasn’t convinced about Harris before the debate: “I think she’ll be a terrible president, but I hope she wins.” He called her “the lesser of two evils.”

The morning after the debate, Fitzsimmons said his feelings about Harris had changed that night.

“I enjoyed the debate and I thought they were both pretty strong, but overall Harris was stronger and won the debate. I think she showed a lot of people that she can be president… I have a lot of concerns about foreign affairs and I think she’s OK on that front,” he told ABC News via text message.

Matthew Labkovski, a Republican voter from Florida who supported former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley in the Republican presidential primary, told ABC News in a text message before the debate that he hoped the candidates would discuss policy and not make personal attacks. He said Tuesday night that he had no plans to vote for the president at this time.

After the debate, Labkovsky said Wednesday: “I think it actually convinced me not to vote for Donald Trump. All I saw from him was fear-mongering and what seemed to be a distortion of the truth,” he said, particularly regarding Trump’s false claims about abortion and a false conspiracy theory about immigrants eating pets.

“I’m still not convinced about Harris because I didn’t get enough of her policies in this debate. Frankly, I’d like to see another debate to see if I really feel comfortable voting for her,” he said.

Labkovsky also criticized Harris’s laughter during the debate, saying he wished she had been more even-keeled.

He added that he would have liked to have discussed with her how she would implement the policies she was talking about.

“How is she going to fight inflation? How is she going to bring peace? That’s what I hoped the debate would bring… I needed more from her to dissuade her from voting for president.”

Would he watch another debate?

“Definitely. Even though it might be torture.”