The Clash between ‘Wallace and Vance’… Who Won the ‘Televised Battle’ on Points?

3rd October 2024

3 minutes read

The Clash between 'Wallace and Vance'... Who Won the 'Televised Battle' on Points?

A very close debate highlighted two different personalities, although JD Vance took a slight lead by focusing his attacks on Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.

According to an analysis by the American magazine “Politico,” the Republican candidate JD Vance was not only calm but also provided sharp criticism of Kamala Harris, more than his fellow candidate Donald Trump did during his debate with her last month.

On the other hand, Democratic candidate Tim Walz took some time to warm up and was not impressive enough even when he tried to be.

Who won the debate?

Vance won the debate, which was light in terms of exchanges of blows and heavy on policy discussions, including the Iranian attack on Israel the previous evening.

For at least one night, Vance managed to move beyond his previous controversial statements about women and families, as well as his false claims about immigrants eating pets in Ohio.

Meanwhile, Walz had his own moments, including criticizing Vance for not acknowledging Trump’s loss in the 2020 elections.

The two candidates arrived in New York under a torrent of headlines announcing that this debate was the most important of all time. Indeed, it is likely the last debate that Americans will watch before voting in November.

A different version

Politico quoted magazine editor Holly Otterbein as saying, “The conventional wisdom was that Vance would become combative and nasty, launching personal attacks, but he deliberately chose to treat Walz with a softer touch, stating that he was sure the latter wanted to solve various problems, but Harris did not.”

She added, “That was an attempt by Vance to present himself as a kinder version of what we have seen in the campaign so far – and he seemed to have irritated Walz.”

Writer Steve Shepard stated that Vance won on points, being more comfortable in the setting and not encountering any major stumbles.

He continued, “However, neither candidate had those moments that would make them problematic on the ballot… That was mission number one for both men tonight: do no harm.”

Viewers’ Opinion

In contrast, voters who watched the debate rendered a split verdict in a quick poll conducted by CBS News and YouGov.

The poll showed that an almost equal percentage of debate watchers awarded victory to JD Vance (42%) and Tim Walz (41%).

The remaining 17% considered the outcome a tie.

This contrasts with the two presidential debates that took place earlier this year. In the quick polls conducted by CNN, Donald Trump was seen as the clear winner over Joe Biden in their debate in June.

Meanwhile, Kamala Harris clearly outperformed Trump in their encounter last month.

In another divergence from previous debates, the vast majority of viewers of yesterday’s debate, 88%, described the tone of the vice presidential candidates as “generally positive.” Only 12% stated it was “generally negative.”

Both candidates improved their images among voters who watched the debate. Walz entered the confrontation with 52% holding a positive opinion of him; that percentage increased to 60% after the debate.

In contrast, Vance’s positive rating improved by almost the same margin, from 40% to 49%.

Evaluation on Issues

Regarding issues, debate watchers said Walz provided better answers on abortion (62% to 38%) and healthcare (59% to 41%). The candidates were nearly tied on the Middle East conflict, the economy, and immigration.

The majority of debate watchers stated that Walz spent most of his time explaining his own views (54%) compared to attacking the other side (46%). This result flipped in Vance’s favor: 55% said he spent most of his time attacking the other side.