Snap polls after VP debate reveal what voters think of Vance and Walz’s performances

Voters watching the debate gave their verdicts on who won and lost the vice presidential debate

Snap polls have revealed what American voters think of JD Vance and Tim Walz’s performances during the vice presidential debate – and whether Tuesday night’s event has shaped their views of the candidates overall.

The general consensus among network pundits from both sides of the political aisle was that the Ohio senator presented as more confident, polished and well-prepared than his Democratic rival during their first – and likely only – debate in New York City on Tuesday night.

But, according to a CBS/YouGov flash poll of 1,630 voters who tuned into the VP clash, it was an almost even match.

The snap poll found 42 percent of viewers thought Vance emerged as the debate winner. Walz garnered only marginally less support, with 41 percent believing that the Minnesota governor “won” the debate.

Seventeen percent of debate watchers said the nominees were tied.

Unlike Donald Trump’s rampant attack lines and volatile untruths in the presidential debate against Kamala Harris on September 10, 88 percent of the survey respondents found that the tone of the VP debate was “generally positive.”

Both candidates’ responses were deemed more “reasonable” than “extreme” – constituting 74 percent of Walz’s responses, and 65 percent of Vance’s.

The debate wasn’t, however, blip-free. Walz admitted that he misspoke when he previously stated he was in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square protests.

Meanwhile, Vance failed to directly address whether Trump lost the 2020 election to President Joe Biden, with Walz branding his response a “non-answer.”

JD Vance (L) and Tim Walz (R) took to the CBS debate stage in New York City on Tuesday evening (AFP via Getty Images)

The poll also found the candidates’ favorability rating soared post-debate with Vance’s increasing by nine percent and Walz’s by seven percent.

For our analysis of presidential polls, favorability, and key issues, read here. 

A separate CNN snap poll, conducted by SSRS of 574 registered voters, also found it was a close call as to who won and lost the debate.

In total, 51 percent said that Vance delivered a “better performance” than Walz, while 49 percent favored Walz. This marks a contrast to pre-debate polling, where 54 percent of respondents expected Walz to outperform his Republican rival come Tuesday evening.

CNN reported that its poll is not representative of the views of the full voting public, consisting only of debate watchers who tuned in – who were three points likelier to be Democratic-aligned than Republican-aligned.

The CNN poll also found that Vance did a better job at defending his running mate than Walz, with 37 percent compared with the Democrat’s 33 percent.

The vice presidential nominees exchanged few barbs in what turned out to be a relatively cordial debate in New York City on Tuesday (AP)

Meanwhile, 27 percent said the duo were on par at defending the presidential nominees and three percent thought neither did a good job at it.

Forty-eight percent of watchers found that Walz was more in touch with the average American, compared to just 35 percent believing the same of Vance, according to the survey.

Walz also came out on top when watchers were asked who more closely shares their vision for America – 48 percent to 39 percent.

Only one percent of voters who tuned into the debate said it had changed their minds about their voting choices in the November election.

This comes after pre-debate polling from Prolific for The Independent found that two-thirds of Democrats believed the vice presidential candidate has a significant impact on the success of the overall presidential ticket.

Overall, Harris maintains a 2.6 point lead over Trump, according to a recent analysis of national polling.

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