The Poll Results Are In: Who Claimed Victory In the Vance-Walz Vice Presidential Debate?
"JD owned the night," as one X user put it.
Published Oct. 2 2024, 9:17 a.m. ET
The vice presidential debate between Republican JD Vance and Democrat Tim Walz, held on Oct. 1, 2024, was mostly cordial, a break from the conventional bantering you'd typically witness at presidential debates. While the two generally focused on the issues at hand, like immigration and the cost of living, without veering into assumptions, such as making false claims about immigrants stealing and eating people's pets, there’s a clear winner based on viewer polls.
Of course, the result is subjective, as voters from one political party may dominate the voting. Still, if we’re relying on data, polls conducted by CBS News, which hosted the debate, and CNN reveal who voters believed won. Let’s take a look at the poll results.
According to polls, JD Vance barely won the vice presidential debate, but he still won.
Just after the debate between Vance and Walz wrapped up, CBS News polled viewers to gauge who they thought won. According to 42 percent of viewers, Vance came out on top, while 41 percent believed Walz took the lead in the Oct. 1 debate. As for the remaining 17 percent, they said it was a tie. CNN's survey conveyed similar sentiments.
According to CNN's poll, 51 percent of viewers said Vance won the debate, while 49 percent sided with Walz. The results weren't far off from CNN's pre-debate survey, where 54 percent expected Vance to win, and 45 percent believed Walz would take the victory.
Despite poll results, viewers have their own opinions on who won the vice presidential debate.
We all know numbers don't lie, but because the CBS and CNN polls only account for a portion of viewers at the time the debate concluded, they leave out those who watched it later in the night or the following day. This means the polls don't necessarily reflect everyone's opinion of the winner. And, of course, how arguments are handled is subjective.
So, how did viewers respond on their own? According to Geraldo Rivera, Vance won because "he proved himself to be agreeable where necessary," while Walz was "treading water," as stated in a NewsNation X (formerly Twitter) post.
However, a quick scroll through the comments on that post proved just how differing folks' views really are. According to one X user, "Vance won only if you like a sociopathic car salesman," while another heavily questioned Geraldo's viewpoints: "Are you serious????????"
In an X post shared by the Des Moines Register, the outlet posed the question, to which it received this reply from one X user: "'I BECAME FRIENDS WITH SCHOOL SHOOTERS.' - Tim Walz….. Vance definitely won. Walz was a mess."
This comment refers to Walz’s statement about having sat in the offices with the parents of the Sandy Hook victims. It seems Walz wasn’t implying that he became friends with school shooters, but that he misspoke, possibly due to nerves, and likely meant to say he became friends with the families of school shooting victims. Obviously, some viewers took his words at face value.
Despite what polls and X users have to say, we are all entitled to our own opinions, and those will likely differ, as politics remains one of the most controversial topics today.
