With just over a month until polling day, vice-presidential candidates JD Vance and Tim Walz will take the stage in New York City on Tuesday night at a pivotal moment for the US presidential election. It will be the first, and probably only, time that Donald Trump and Kamala Harris’s running mates debate, and the primetime event offers Vance in particular an opportunity to improve his relatively tepid approval ratings.
An Associated Press poll last week showed more than half — 57 per cent — of registered voters had an unfavourable view of Vance, the Republican senator from Ohio, compared with just under a third — 32 per cent — who disliked Walz, the Democratic governor of Minnesota.
Tuesday’s showdown, hosted by CBS News, will also probably be the last televised debate of the 2024 presidential election cycle. While Harris has accepted an invitation from CNN for another presidential debate in late October, Trump has said he has no intention of taking the stage again.
The Financial Times poll tracker shows that while Harris enjoys a 3.4 percentage point lead over Trump in national polls, the two candidates remain in a virtual tie in all seven swing states that are likely to decide who wins the White House.
The first presidential debate between Harris and Trump last month on ABC News was viewed by more than 60mn people according to Nielsen estimates and was widely seen as a “win” for Harris who repeatedly put Trump on defensive.
Yet it failed to have significant impact on either candidate’s polling numbers and few political operatives including insiders from both campaigns believe Tuesday’s debate will move needle.
Republican strategist Doug Heye said with most undecided voters focused on fight between Harris and Trump few were likely to change their vote based on performances of their running mates “barring something cataclysmic”.
Still stakes remain high for Vance and Walz as debate offers both men arguably their biggest platform to pitch themselves -and more importantly their bosses- to American electorate.
