The condition in my if statement is saying the 2 arguments I put in dont' match

So I have this If statement:

modalEl.addEventListener("click", function (event) {
    if (event.target.matches("li")) {
        console.log("\"" + questions[questionI].correct + "\"")
        console.log(event.target.firstChild)
        if (event.target.firstChild === "\"" + questions[questionI].correct + "\"") {
            console.log("correct")
        } else {
            console.log("incorrect")
        }
    };
});

the console shows that they match. For instance, the first question if you click on the right answer will console.log "8" twice but then it console.logs "incorrect". Why is this happening? Or is there a work around for this?