“Mr. President please, Governor Romney, you too. You’re setting a terrible example for this audience and these people are very impressionable – they are from Long Island.”

All jokes aside, the cold opening for Saturday Night Live that aired on the 20th hit right on this new trend seen throughout the presidential debates this election season.

As a nation, a tense atmosphere every four years around election time has come to be expected.

Political debates make their way from television screens into homes and daily routines. There are those who adhere strongly to one side of the battle, strongly opposing others despite all else. There are those who stand idly by and refuse to vote, but then complain about how the presidency is being handled. There are those who stand undecided, confused, and trying their best to follow this process. None of this is new to the election process, but this season the level of disrespect growing between Democrats and Republicans has been raised to shocking levels.

With each debate Americans are seeing the growing tensions between the candidates manifested through finger pointing, false accusations and incessant interruptions on both sides of the debate. Since the first presidential debate this kind of behavior has escalated at an alarming rate.

The escalation of this behavior truly began to stick out with the vice presidential debate. Many agree that VP Joe Biden’s behavior in this debate was not only aggressive, but also immature.

In contrast, challenger Paul Ryan held his own, despite being 28 years his junior.

According to the spokesman for the Republican National committee Joe Pounder, Biden interrupted Ryan 82 times during the entire debate on top of smirking and laughing while Ryan made his points.

That’s not to say that Ryan did not have his share of attacks on the Obama/Biden ticket. Any slight against the current VP, however, was vastly overpowered by the way that Biden was acting. It is this kind of conduct that the majority of people remember.

The conflict did not stop there. The second debate also heated up, with excessive interruptions and childish finger pointing from both sides.

The town hall style setting provided both candidates with the ability to move freely about the stage throughout the debate. This left many feeling uncomfortable, as Obama and Romney got alarmingly close to each other, as well as to the debate’s moderator, Candy Crowley.

Crowley had to interrupt both men on more than one occasion to try and stop their bickering. Both Romney and Obama persisted in accusing the falsity of the other’s statements.

In the most recent debate, however, these childish displays were somewhat scaled back.

The interruptions continued to overshadow the positions of the candidates. The finger pointing and false accusations didn’t end, with both Romney and Obama continuing to attack each other on a personal level.

There is a difference between a spirited debate and aggression.

In theory, the debates should be a pertinent way to learn a candidate’s positions and policies on the topics that will affect the country for the next four years.

In practice, however, it has become a verbal boxing match between the two contenders: each one trying to score the knockout blow.

Many Americans have become disillusioned with both candidates because of the behavior seen in these debates. These are the men that are vying for votes to lead our struggling country for the next four years.

Both Obama and Romney, however, have become synonymous with the words rude, brash and undignified.

With Election Day just around the corner, this race has truly come down to the wire. It is time for the people to voice their choice.