Donald Trump’s running mate JD Vance may leave New York a winner after his only debate with vice presidential rival Tim Walz, according to DailyMail.com’s exclusive snap poll.
The CBS showdown just 35 days before the general election was an opportunity for the vice presidential candidates to demonstrate that they are qualified to be one step away from the presidency.
The candidates tangled over issues such as abortion, immigration, gun violence and the Middle East. The two also took great risks in presenting themselves as extreme or “weird.”
They also praised their bosses, Trump and Kamala Harris, in the final campaign sprint of what could be one of the closest elections in decades.
But it was Vance who left the best impression on viewers, after a strong start against a nervous opponent and despite dodging a question about whether Trump lost the 2020 election.
According to the DailyMail.com/JL Partners poll of 801 likely voters, 50 percent said Vance won the debate compared to just 43 percent who said Walz was the victor.
Donald Trump’s running mate JD Vance edged out Democratic rival Tim Walz in their only debate of the 2024 race, according to DailyMail.com’s snap poll.
Seven percent of respondents were unsure who emerged victorious.
James Johnson, co-founder of JL Partners and DailyMail.com pollster, said it’s clear JD Vance had the best performance of the night.
But whether it will have an impact on the general election is a different matter.
“JD Vance can take a bow after his debate performance, and likely voters say he did the best,” Johnson said.
“This was not a moment of self-destruction for Walz, whose approval rating improved in the minds of viewers after the debate, and Harris considers him the right choice.
“What is perhaps most surprising about the data is how little this seems to matter.
“Despite giving the victory to Vance, voters did not change their preference for the vice president or how they would vote in November.”
A poll showed that JD Vance came out on top in th
Of those surveyed, 46 percent said before the debate that they planned to vote for Trump and Vance. This was the same at the end of the night.
Half (50 percent) said they intended to back Harris and Walz. This figure was reduced by one percent as a result of the debate.
“Vance had a good night, but it could end up having more impact on his personal political brand than whether Trump ends up in the White House on January 20.”
Another spectator who praised Vance was the former president, who spent the night commenting on every development on the New York stage.
JD crushed it! “Walz was a low-IQ disaster, much like Kamala,” Trump said in one of his many Truth Social posts overnight.
JD Vance holds his wife Usha’s hand on stage after his only vice presidential debate with Tim Walz.
And he added: ‘Our country could never recover from an Administration of these two. Can you imagine us being represented by cunning and fierce foreign leaders? Can’t!
The Republican candidate hurled insults at Walz, calling him “Tampon Tim” and mocking his frenetic note-taking.
He also lashed out at CBS moderators Margaret Brennan and Norah O’Donnell, calling them “ladies” and claiming they were “biased” against his pick for vice president.
Walz got off to a nervous start when asked whether he would launch a pre-emptive strike against Iran in response to its ballistic missile attack on Israel.
The Minnesota governor was visibly nervous in the early exchanges, while Vance gave more composed and polished responses.
Walz then made two serious mistakes.
The first was when he was asked about his claims that he was in Hong Kong teaching during the pro-democracy protests in China’s Tiananmen Square in 1989.
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Local media reports at the time placed him in his home state of Nebraska and had him planning to travel to China months after the protests.
“I got there that summer and I made a mistake,” Walz said. ‘That’s what I said. So I was in Hong Kong and China during the democracy protests, and I went in and learned a lot from that.”
During an exchange about gun violence, he recalled how his 17-year-old son Gus had witnessed a school shooting.
In an unfortunate slip, he then said, “I’ve made friends with school shooters.”
It is not clear what he meant.
Democratic vice presidential candidate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and his wife Gwen Walz exit the stage after a vice presidential debate.
Walz got off to a nervous start when asked whether he would launch a pre-emptive strike against Iran in response to its ballistic missile attack on Israel.
In a moment of brutal honesty – with the folksy attitude that has dominated his campaign – he admitted: “Sometimes I’m an idiot.”
‘I will talk a lot. “I’ll get caught up in the rhetoric.”
Moderators noted that JD Vance had previously said he would not have certified the last election and pressed him on whether he would challenge the 2024 election results.
At first, Vance avoided the question and focused on the topics he wants to talk about. But he returned to the topic and downplayed Trump’s role on January 6.
He said Trump believed there were problems with the last election, but defended the former president’s response. He then argued that the real threat to democracy is censorship.
Walz called Vance’s response to the question a “damning non-response” and later called it troubling.
“Democracy is bigger than winning an election,” Walz said. “You shake hands and then try to do everything you can to help the other side win.”
The governor added that when these elections are over ‘we have to shake hands’ and ‘the winner has to be the winner.’
Vance and Walz had a largely civil and substantive debate on policies ranging from immigration to health care, the economy and taxes, abortion rights and more.
The Minnesota governor was visibly nervous in the early exchanges, while Vance gave more composed and polished responses.
Vance repeatedly referred to the ‘Kamala Harris administration,’ attempting to link the vice president to President Joe Biden’s policies.
“When did Iran, Hamas and their proxies attack Israel? It was during the Kamala Harris administration,” Vance said at the beginning of the debate.
“So Governor Walz may criticize Donald Trump’s tweets, but effective, smart diplomacy and peace through strength is the way to return stability to a very broken world.”
Vance also claimed that Harris, not Biden, signed the executive order that undid most of Trump’s immigration policies.
JD Vance is verified
Trump’s running mate ended up being fact-checked by moderators during the debate even though CBS News noted it would not fact-check the candidates.
Brennan fact-checked Vance and noted that Haitian immigrants living in Springfield, Ohio, are in the country legally.
That prompted an angry response from Vance and ended with the candidates’ microphones being cut off.
During a discussion about immigration, Vance spoke about how Haitians were overwhelming resources in the Ohio community.
“Thank you, Governor, and just to clarify for our viewers, Springfield, Ohio, has a large number of Haitian immigrants who have legal status, temporary protected status,” Brennan inserted.
‘Thank you, Margaret. “The rules were that you guys weren’t going to fact-check me, and since you’re fact-checking me, I think it’s important to say what’s really going on,” Vance said.
When Vance and Walz continued talking about the topic, their microphones were cut off.
A very civilized debate with handshakes and hugs between their wives
Vance and Walz had a largely civil and substantive debate on policies ranging from immigration to health care, the economy and taxes, abortion rights and more.
Right off the bat, both candidates shook hands before the debate even began. It was different than when Harris had to walk up and address Trump at the top of their presidential debate last month.
During the debate, both candidates even acknowledged their agreement at some points.
Later, in a focus group on CNN, one undecided voter called it an unexpectedly “warm and fuzzy” debate.