Who won the VP debate, JD Vance or Tim Walz?

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and US Senator JD Vance met for the first time face-to-face at the CBS Broadcast Center in New York City on Tuesday, October 1. The occasion was the vice presidential debate, the first and only in 2024 for the running mates of Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, respectively.

The encounter was described as “a very civil conversation” in which the two candidates for the most part stuck to the issues being discussed. A poll taken by CBS after the debate found that an overwhelming majority of viewers, 88 percent, felt that it was a positive debate. Likewise, the favorable ratings for both candidates increased. But who did the viewers feel won the debate?

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Who won the VP debate, JD Vance or Tim Walz?

The Washington Post got reactions from a group of 23 uncommitted, swing-state voters while the debate was happening. Walz went into the encounter with a more of them having a favorable impression of the candidate than his opponent. During the debate Harris’ running mate was seen to have done a better job speaking about school shootings and Healthcare while they felt Vance made better arguments on immigration, climate change and US policy toward Israel and Iran.

A survey taken by CBS found that the debate was pretty much a tie between Walz and Vance. 42% of respondents said that the senator won the debate and 41% felt that way about the governor while 17% considered the matchup a tie.

On the other hand, a CBS focus group of six Michigan voters in Grand Rapids in a hand vote after the debate said four-to-two that Trump’s running mate did a better job in the debate. According to the opinions of two of them, one who felt Vance did better and another who considered Walz’ outperformed, both agreed that the Senator from Ohio was a “very smooth talker.” The Governor clearly looked nervous at the beginning and got off to a slightly shaky start before getting his footing.