Tuesday night’s vice-presidential debate between Republican JD Vance and Democrat Tim Walz felt like a civil and relatively restrained conversation about the issues at the top of American voters’ minds going into the 5 November election.
In that, it was unlike the two presidential debates earlier this year.
The two men spent much more time attacking the other’s running mate than each other during 90-plus minutes on the CBS News stage in New York.
Walz had a shaky start but hit his stride when talking about abortion and the Capitol riot.
But the even-tempered, policy-focused debate, with few political body blows, probably served Vance – a polished public speaker – best in the end.
If Vance was picked because he puts ideological meat on the bones of Trump’s conservative populism, on Tuesday night he put a polite, humble face on them, as well.
“Something these guys do is they make a lot of claims about if Donald Trump becomes president, all of these terrible consequences are going to ensue,” he said. “But in reality, Donald Trump was president. Inflation was low. Take-home pay was higher.”
Source: Who won the Vance-Walz vice-presidential debate?
