--- title: How Social Media Reacted to the Second Presidential Debate description: Social media lit up on Sunday night as Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump faced off in the second presidential debate. canonical: https://time.com/4524525/social-media-presidential-debate-clinton-trump-st-louis/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-10T05:27:01.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:44:37.651Z article:section: Politics og:title: How Social Media Reacted to the Second Presidential Debate og:description: Syria, women and Clinton's past got Internet users riled up og:url: https://time.com/4524525/social-media-presidential-debate-clinton-trump-st-louis/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5e6d495e1cb04056/6988a94fe20a873528a92b71/gettyimages-613703098.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3601 og:image:height: 2026 og:image:alt: Candidates Hillary Clinton And Donald Trump Hold Second Presidential Debate At Washington University og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How Social Media Reacted to the Second Presidential Debate twitter:description: Syria, women and Clinton's past got Internet users riled up twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5e6d495e1cb04056/6988a94fe20a873528a92b71/gettyimages-613703098.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's How Social Media Reacted to the Second Presidential Debate > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=85f34e2d-580d-40b7-ad4a-8f173e7e6328&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Oct 10, 2016 5:27 AM UTC  Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump (L) shakes hands with Democratic presidential nominee former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during the town hall debate at Washington University on October 9, 2016 in St Louis, Missouri Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump (L) shakes hands with Democratic presidential nominee former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during the town hall debate at Washington University on October 9, 2016 in St Louis, Missouri Win McNamee—Getty Images by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Oct 10, 2016 5:27 AM UTC Social media lit up on Sunday night as Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump [faced off ](http://time.com/4523324/second-presidential-debate-donald-trump-town-hall/)in the second [presidential debate.](http://time.com/4523325/read-the-transcript-of-the-second-presidential-debate/) The gloves came off in the town-hall showdown at Washington University in St. Louis, and the Internet responded with fervor. Clinton aimed to[ seize the moment](http://time.com/4524409/watch-hillary-clinton-criticize-donald-trump-debate/) as Trump staggered from the[ fallout of a tape](http://time.com/4524010/donald-trumps-lewd-comments-leave-the-gop-scrambling/) released on Saturday exposing him making [degrading comments](http://time.com/4523851/donald-trump-apology-access-hollywood/?xid=homepage) about women, which some people have said amount to an admission of [sexual assault](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/10/09/anderson-cooper-told-trump-that-is-sexual-assault-the-justice-department-agrees/). Trump [dismissed](http://time.com/4524406/presidential-debate-donald-trump-locker-room-talk-video/) the remarks as “locker room talk.” Sunday’s debate was the most tweeted ever, with more than 17 million debate-related tweets sent, Twitter[ said. ](https://twitter.com/twitter/status/785322512280276992) > [](https://twitter.com/jes%5Fchastain/status/785309189367226369) > [](https://twitter.com/bayoumimoustafa/status/785293447141924865) > [](https://twitter.com/BrentBozell/status/785309405667622912) > [](https://twitter.com/TimSClark/status/785308716849442818) > [](https://twitter.com/MerriamWebster/status/785304775315300352) > [](https://twitter.com/larrywilmore/status/785296485428539393) Vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine was confident that Clinton had the win, while his opponent, Mike Pence on the Republican ticket, was equally sure of Trump’s victory. > [](https://twitter.com/timkaine/status/785308394085347328) > [](https://twitter.com/mike%5Fpence/status/785310165327151104) Internet users were especially responsive to talk about Trump’s [disagreement with running mate](http://time.com/4524449/presidential-debate-donald-trump-mike-pence-syria/) Pence on the United States’ policy in Syria, referring to himself as a “gentleman” and his suggestion that Clinton should be “locked up”. > [](https://twitter.com/gov/status/785309872829104129) > [](https://twitter.com/BMcCarthy32/status/785301267866267649) > [](https://twitter.com/chelseahandler/status/785301834755735553) > [](https://twitter.com/unfoRETTAble/status/785291628303028224) > [](https://twitter.com/AriFleischer/status/785311793853952000) > [](https://twitter.com/johnwoodRTR/status/785317154488881154) [Alicia Machado](http://time.com/4509243/donald-trump-miss-universe-alicia-machado-piggy-housekeeping/), the former Miss Universe who accused Trump of “fat-shaming” tuned in on Sunday. > [](https://twitter.com/machadooficial/status/785303493779283968) Some viewers weren’t satisfied with the substance of the debate, saying they wanting to see the candidates take on issues of race and law enforcement in America. > [](https://twitter.com/AntonioFrench/status/785309865644134400) The verdict is still out on this one. Until the next round. > [](https://twitter.com/RyanGOP/status/785308107706687488) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4524525/social-media-presidential-debate-clinton-trump-st-louis/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4524525/social-media-presidential-debate-clinton-trump-st-louis/"},"headline":"Here's How Social Media Reacted to the Second Presidential Debate","datePublished":"2016-10-10T05:27:01.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:44:37.651Z","description":"Sunday’s debate was the most tweeted ever","url":"https://time.com/4524525/social-media-presidential-debate-clinton-trump-st-louis/","keywords":["Debates","Newsfeed","Social Media","2016 Election","politics"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5e6d495e1cb04056/6988a94fe20a873528a92b71/gettyimages-613703098.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5e6d495e1cb04056/6988a94fe20a873528a92b71/gettyimages-613703098.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Candidates Hillary Clinton And Donald Trump Hold Second Presidential Debate At Washington University","caption":"Candidates Hillary Clinton And Donald Trump Hold Second Presidential Debate At Washington University","creditText":"Win McNamee—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/debates/","name":"Debates"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4524525/social-media-presidential-debate-clinton-trump-st-louis/","name":"Here's How Social Media Reacted to the Second Presidential Debate"}}]}] ```