Vice presidential nominees Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz both went into Tuesday’s debate knowing that their contest, traditionally an afterthought in presidential politics, was going to command the nation’s focus in unusual fashion.
Rather than focusing explicitly on one another, the two candidates aimed most of their criticisms at the other’s running mate. Walz warned about Republican nominee Donald Trump’s policies on abortion, the economy, and immigration. At the same time, Vance repeatedly reminded the audience that Kamala Harris is the current Vice President and is at least partially responsible for the Biden administration’s policy failures.
Mainstream media outlets conducted post-debate polling to learn how voters viewed the debate performances.
Between these four major snap polls, where 3,530 likely voters were surveyed, an average of 48 percent favored Vance’s performance to the 46 percent that favored Walz.
Unsurprisingly, national political figures on both sides took to the media spin room to rally support behind their respective party nominees.
“This was an overwhelming, dominating performance by JD Vance,” said Rep. Elise Stefanik (R–N.Y.), in the spin room.
When asked after the debate which candidate was victorious, Sen. Ben Ray Lujan (D–N.M.) said the winner was “Governor Tim Walz, standing there in a strong way, defending our democracy.”
The Nov. 5 Election Day is less than five weeks away and early voting has already started in some states.
There are no further presidential debates scheduled for this election cycle.
