VP Debate Boosts Image of Both Walz & Vance in America’s Eyes

According to a flash poll conducted by SSRS for CNN, registered U.S. voters thought the two vice presidential nominees Tim Walz and JD Vance were fairly evenly matched in last night’s VP-debate, hosted by CBS News and broadcast nationally on TV. The poll of 574 U.S. adults gave Vance the slight advantage with 51 percent of votes to Walz’s 49.

As the following chart shows, the first and only scheduled vice presidential debate between Walz and Vance appears to have helped the image of both candidates in the eyes of U.S. voters. Where Walz had been viewed favorably by 46 percent of registered voters in the run up to the debate, this rose by 13 percentage points to 59 percent on October 1 following the debate. For Vance, favorable opinions rose by 11 percentage points before and after the event, from 30 percent 41 percent.

Taking a look back at previous VP debates, this pairing came out far more evenly tied than those of recent history. For example, 42 percent of respondents said Tim Kaine performed better in the 2016 VP-debate compared to Mike Pence’s 48 percent, while Biden received 44 percent compared to Paul Ryan’s 48 percent in 2012 and Al Gore received 57 percent approval in 1996 to Jack Kemp’s 28 percent. The latter followed on from a particularly clearcut win just four years prior, again to Al Gores with a 61 percent landslide win to Dan Quayle’s 19 percent and James Stockdale’s 5 percent in 1992.

On September 10, presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump went head to head in a televised debate, where Harris won in the eyes of registered voters, securing 63 percent of votes on who performed better on the night, versus Trump’s 37 percent. This turned the tide on the first presidential debate between Joe Biden and Trump, where the odds had been in Trump’s favor.