Last night’s CBS Tim Walz-JD Vance Vice Presidential Debate was indecisive, as Tim Walz did not go for the “jugular vein” of JD Vance, giving him a pass on his “cat ladies” comment and his promotion of the Springfield Haitian immigrants controversy, which Walz brought up, but did not go far enough. Overall, the tone of the debate was more civil than one might have expected.
Early indications are that Vance was seen as having performed somewhat better, although it was very troubling that he was unwilling to say Donald Trump lost the Presidential Election of 2020, amid indications he would be willing to contest the results in a similar situation after this year’s election.
Walz seemed a bit tentative in his debate style, so in that sense, he was disappointing, but still the public perception of Walz is much higher than that of Vance.
Stylistically, Vance can be perceived overall as a better debater, but he engaged in lying in many of his statements, with Walz giving him a pass.
History tells us that Vice Presidential debates do not determine election results, so in that sense, Walz did not have a specific blunder that would undermine the Democratic Party Presidential campaign.