CNN Snap Poll: No clear winner in Tim Walz-JD Vance vice presidential debate

() – Registered voters watching Tuesday’s debate between vice presidential candidates Tim Walz and JD Vance were sharply divided over which candidate did better, according to a snapshot poll conducted by SSRS. The event left viewers with more positive opinions of both candidates than they had before the debate.

Among debate watchers, Walz remains the candidate viewed most positively and as most in touch with his needs and vision for the country. Vance, who suffers from a greater image deficit among both television viewers and the general public, improved his position among the debate public, exceeding expectations and gaining ground among the part that perceives him as qualified. He is also considered better than Walz in defending his fellow candidate. Both men, according to the poll, are viewed by most debate viewers as qualified to assume the presidency if necessary. And virtually none of the voters who tuned in to the debate saw it as a reason to change their vote.

After the debate, 51% of viewers said Vance had done the best job, and 49% chose Walz. In a survey of the same voters before the debate, Walz led as the candidate from whom they expected a better result, 54% to 45%.

The highly divided opinions on the outcome of this Tuesday’s debate contrast sharply with the public’s more decisive reaction after this year’s most important debates. In June, two-thirds of debate viewers thought former President Donald Trump outperformed President Joe Biden, while a majority of 63% who tuned in to the September debate between Trump and Kamala Harris said the vice president did the better job.

Opinions on the vice presidential hopefuls were largely divided along pre-established political lines Tuesday night: 90% of debate viewers who support Trump’s candidacy said Vance did the best job, while 82% said Vance did the best job. A slightly narrower number of Harris supporters who tuned in to the debate saw Walz as the winner.

The poll results reflect opinions about the debate only among voters who tuned in and are not representative of the opinions of the entire voting public. Debate watchers in the survey were 3 percentage points more likely to be aligned with Democrats than Republicans, making for an audience that leaned about 5 points more toward Democrats than all registered voters nationally. This is a departure from the audiences for this year’s two presidential debates, both of which are slightly more Republican-leaning than the potential American electorate overall. What voters who tune out hear about an event in the days that follow can often be as impactful as their immediate opinions about the event itself.

After the debate, 59% of debate watchers said they had a favorable opinion of Walz, with only 22% viewing him unfavorably – an improvement from his already positive numbers among the same voters before the debate (46% favorable, 32% unfavorable).

Debate observers came away with more or less neutral opinions of Vance: 41% rated him favorably and 44% rated him unfavorably.
This also represents an improvement over the image they had of Vance before the debate, when his rating among this group was very low (30% favorable, 52% unfavorable).

Among debate watchers, Walz increased his favorability much more among women than men, while Vance’s gains were roughly the same among voters of both sexes.

About 1 in 5 Trump supporters (21%) who tuned in to the debate now say they have a favorable opinion of Walz, while Vance’s favorability rating among Harris supporters remains at just 8%.

In a poll of all Americans conducted before the debate, Walz was viewed favorably by 36% of voters, unfavorably by 32%, and a sizable 33% who had not heard of him or had no opinion. about it. By contrast, opinions of Vance are negative, with 30% of registered voters viewing him favorably, 42% unfavorably and 27% having no opinion.

A 65% majority of debate watchers now say Walz is qualified to be president if necessary, and 58% say the same of Vance. Before the debate, 62% of the same voters thought that Walz was qualified to assume the presidency if necessary and 50% that Vance was qualified to do so.

Debate viewers said, 48% to 35%, that Walz is more in touch than Vance with the needs and problems of people like them, and by a similar margin, 48% to 39%, that Walz, more than Vance, shares more his vision of America.

The percentage of viewers who think that both vice presidential candidates are in touch with their problems is double that of those who think that neither of them are, 12% compared to 6%, an unusual level of positivity in the cycle. election this year.

There is a significant gender difference among viewers about which candidate shares more his vision of America: among female voters, Walz has a clear advantage, with half saying yes, compared to 36% who believe Vance’s vision It gets closer to yours. Male voters are more divided, 47% Walz to 43% Vance.

Viewers said by a narrow margin, 37% to 33%, that Vance did a better job than Walz in defending his running mate, with 27% saying each candidate did an equally good job, and 3% that none did. Seven in 10 Trump supporters said Vance did the best job defending his running mate, while 57% of Harris supporters said Walz did the best in that regard.

A paltry 1% of voters who tuned in to the debate said it changed their minds about who to vote for, with Harris and Trump supporters equally unlikely to consider the event decisive.

The poll was conducted by text message to 574 registered voters in the US who said they watched Tuesday’s debate, and the poll results are representative of the opinions of those who watched the debate only. Respondents were recruited to participate prior to the debate and were selected through a survey among members of the SSRS Opinion Panel, a nationally representative panel recruited using probability sampling techniques. The results for the full sample of debate observers have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 5.3 percentage points.