Republican J.D. Vance and Democrat Tim Walz are set to face off on Tuesday in their sole vice-presidential debate of the 2024 election season. Both candidates aim to demonstrate their relatability and dispel any perceptions of eccentricity.
While Walz initially used the term “weird” to critique the entire Republican ticket, a recent J.L. Partners/DailyMail.com poll suggests he has some work to do as well.
In a survey conducted earlier this month with 1,000 likely voters, 40 percent identified Senator Vance, aged 40, as the stranger of the two candidates.
Meanwhile, 35 percent pointed to Walz, the 60-year-old Minnesota governor, as having an unusual character.
In an election poised to be decided by razor-thin margins, the upcoming debate in New York on Tuesday evening offers both candidates a crucial platform to sway undecided voters.
J.L. Partners polled 1000 likely voters earlier this month for their views on the two vice presidential candidates, Sen. J.D. Walz and Gov. Tim Walz
Interestingly, 25 percent of the respondents admitted they were unsure which candidate they found the most peculiar.
That means that each has a chance to speak directly to an audience that may not know a lot about Vance or Walz.
Our poll also found that Walz starts with another edge over Vance, who has attracted a string of negative headlines over resurfaced remarks about the country being run by ‘chidless cat ladies’ and lamenting how car seat regulations had led to low birthrates.
Walz starts with a plus two favorability rating (the difference between the percentage of people who approve of him and those who disapprove).
Vance is under water, with a net favorability of minus six.
However, the Ohio senator has actually seen his rating improve during the past month (up from minus eight) while Walz has been trending the wrong way (down from plus four.)
The match-up, hosted by CBS News, may not carry the same sort of stakes as last month’s Trump-Harris showdown, but sparks could still fly.
Republican J.D. Vance and Democrat Tim Walz will meet Tuesday in their only vice presidential debate of the 2024 election, and both have a point to prove
Vance has mocked Walz’s military service record, while Walz has gone after Vance’s opposition to abortion and his focus on couples having children.
But the key role of each man will be to act as defenders or attack dogs for the candidate at the top of the ticket.
In the past, that he meant plenty of heat but not much light.
This could be different, according to James Johnson, co-founder of J.L. Partners.
‘Typically vice presidential debates don’t matter however margins are so tight that actually a blowout performance by one of the other candidate could win over some undecideds, at least in theory,’ he said.
‘A swing voter I spoke to in Pennsylvania, for example, was waiting for this debate to make her mind up.’
Johnson said both candidates were less known to the public than Trump and Harris which meant there might be more space for substance.
‘I expect this to be a debate where we spend more time talking about the issues afterwards than the personalities,’ he said.
The two can also be relied on to talk up their middle America roots. Both won their places on their ticket with something of an everyman appeal—Vance as the son of a mother brought low by the country’s opioid epidemic and Walz with what supporters see as his ‘normal dad’ and ‘Minnesota nice vibe.
