OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Multiple pollsters have recorded a significant increase in Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance’s approval rating following his commanding debate victory over Democratic challenger Tim Walz on Tuesday.
Several polls and focus groups conducted in the hours after the debate yielded highly favorable results for the Trump-Vance campaign. Vance excelled in social media polls and was also declared the winner in surveys by CNN, NBC News, Fox News, and others.
According to a poll conducted by CNN, Vance started the night with a favorability rating in the red at -22. After the debate, this rating improved to -3 among the network’s left-leaning viewers, representing a 19-point swing during the course of the debate.
CBS News/YouGov found that 40 percent of respondents held a favorable view of Vance before the debate. This figure increased to 49 percent afterward, while those with an unfavorable view of him decreased by eight points during the night. An additional 4 percent of respondents remained undecided after the debate.
Several left-wing pundits were compelled to acknowledge that Vance had achieved a commanding victory over his Democratic rival.
Walz faced multiple setbacks during the 90-minute debate, including a significant moment when he was unable to explain why he had misrepresented his trips to China. The Minnesota governor claimed he was in the country during the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989, but a report from the Washington Free Beacon and Minnesota Public Radio found his assertion to be false.
The Democratic Party nominee also declared that he has “become friends with school shooters” in another bizarre moment.
“I think we shouldn’t lose track, I think even in the civility of the fact that J.D. Vance came to this debate to land a bunch of punches, and he did. He landed a lot of punches in between all the niceties and all of that,” said CNN’s Abby Phillip.
She also suggested that Walz was significantly underprepared for the debate. CNN had previously reported that Walz felt very nervous about confronting a “lawyer type” like J.D. Vance and was particularly concerned about disappointing Vice President Harris.
CNN’s Dana Bash and Jake Tapper, notably, were also critical of Walz, with each of them alternately opining that he appeared to either lack debate prep or had far too much of it and was not quick enough on his feet to counter Vance’s many jabs at Harris.
At one point during post-debate analysis, Tapper even claimed that Vance is a “much more experienced” debater, a point that Bash said could be attributed to the fact that Walz — and Harris — have not done many media interviews.
“I think there was a clear lack of preparation and execution here,” Phillip said.
Bash had the opposite take. “I think he had too much preparation. He had so many lines that he was clearly trying to say,” she said. “I think the lack of interviews that he has done with national media, with local media — it showed he needed more.”
Tapper added that “JD Vance is much more experienced with this, at public speaking and defending himself and pivoting,” while host Anderson Cooper concluded that Walz seemed nervous on stage.
BREAKING: CNN admits JD Vance was the “much more experienced” debater. pic.twitter.com/p8bMCo8is7
— Leading Report (@LeadingReport) October 2, 2024
“It kind of reminded me of the June 27 debate, when Kamala Harris that night said of Joe Biden, ‘It was a slow start, but a strong finish,’” ABC News anchor Linsey Davis said regarding Walz’s debate against former President Donald Trump’s running mate. “And that’s how I felt Tim Walz kind of did tonight,” she added, per the New York Post.
Davis, who co-moderated the presidential debate on September 10 between Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump alongside David Muir, suggested that Vance was more “effective” at challenging Harris on Tuesday than Trump had been the previous month.
“I feel like that was really effective,” Davis said of Vance, who noted frequently during the debate that Harris has not pressed for any of the issues and policies she claims to support now.
