Tipsheet

Snap Polls Are In: Here's Who Won the VP Debate

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  October 02, 2024 12:30 AM

This piece has been updated to include more posts about the CBS debate.

On Tuesday night, Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) clobbered Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) in the vice presidential debate hosted by CBS News. Not long after, snap polls came in, with both CBS News and CNN showing that Vance bested Walz.

According to the CBS News poll, 42 percent of debate watchers said that Vance won, while 41 percent said so about Vance. Seventeen percent said it was a tie. 

Shortly before midnight, CNN released the results of their own snap poll, which showed Vance leading 51-49 percent when it comes to who debate watchers thought won the debate.

In contrast, debate watchers said in 2020 that Vice President Kamala Harris beat then Vice President Mike Pence by 59-38 percent. 

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The 51 percent support for Vance is even greater news for the Trump-Vance ticket, given that he's the first one to have received over 50 percent. Even in previous polls for the Republican candidate won, it was only with plurality support.

The poll also oversampled Democratic respondents.

CNN's own panelists also concurred that Vance was the better debater.

Abby Phillip spoke to "a clear lack of preparation and execution here on Walz's part," while Dana Bash spoke to the opposite, having prepared perhaps too much. Bash also hit Walz on his lack of interviews, points that Jake Tapper agreed with as he offered "JD Vance is much more experienced."

CNN's Scott Jennings also shared "it's pretty clear Vance outclassed Walz tonight," regarding Walz in as "over his head" as he also expressed concerns about the Democrat sitting in the Situation Room as the vice president some day. "It was amazing, the split screen difference between a competent Vance and a totally in over his head Walz." 

He also offered it's a "night of redemption" for Vance when it comes to the claims that the senator was a supposedly terrible pick, as Jennings made clear "that charade is now over." 

As Jennings summed it up, "Walz does not belong at this level of American politics, Vance does. Final verdict: Tim Walz wandered into the wrong bar tonight!" 

In the days leading up to the debate, CNN reported that Walz was feeling quite nervous, and that certainly showed during Tuesday night's performance.

Perhaps Walz's worst moment came after he was asked a question he had to know was coming, on his lies about Tiananmen Square, and he completely flubbed the answer. They mercifully went to a commercial break after that.  

Jennings referred to that response as "probably the worst VP debate meltdown" since 1992, as "two and a half minutes of absolute terrible!"

Time will tell if any deeper post-debate polls show that Vance's strong performance moved the needle in what's looking to be a close and competitive election. Harris only leads former and potentially future President Donald Trump by +2.0 at the national level, per RealClearPolling. 

Trump meanwhile leads Harris by +0.1 in the key state of Pennsylvania, which Harris could have easily won had she picked their popular governor, Josh Shapiro, as her running mate. Pennsylvania delivers 19 electoral votes to the winner, and thus potentially even the presidency. 

There's certainly been plenty of chatter over social media that Harris is probably wishing she picked Shapiro instead.