Vance’s Favorability Ratings Skyrocket After Debate: Report

Multiple pollsters have reported a notable surge in Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance's approval rating following his dominant performance in the debate against Democratic challenger Tim Walz on Tuesday.

Several polls and focus groups conducted shortly after the debate showed highly favorable results for the Trump-Vance campaign. Vance outperformed in social media polls and was also declared the winner in surveys from CNN, NBC News, Fox News, and others.

According to a CNN poll, Vance's favorability rating began the night in negative territory at -22. After the debate, his rating improved to -3 among the network's left-leaning audience, marking a 19-point improvement over the course of the debate.

A CBS News/YouGov survey found that 40 percent of respondents viewed Vance favorably before the debate, with that figure rising to 49 percent afterward. Meanwhile, the percentage of those holding an unfavorable view of him dropped by eight points, with 4 percent of respondents still undecided.

Several left-leaning commentators acknowledged that Vance had secured a commanding victory over Walz.

Throughout the 90-minute debate, Walz faced several challenges, including a key moment when he struggled to explain his misleading claims about visiting China. The Minnesota governor had claimed to be in the country during the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989, a statement later disproved by reports from the Washington Free Beacon and Minnesota Public Radio.

In another unusual comment, Walz said he had “become friends with school shooters.”

“I think we shouldn’t lose track, I think even in the civility of the fact that J.D. Vance came to this debate to land a bunch of punches, and he did. He landed a lot of punches in between all the niceties and all of that,” said CNN's Abby Phillip.

Phillip also suggested that Walz was underprepared for the debate. CNN had previously reported that Walz felt very anxious about debating someone with a "lawyer type" background like Vance, and feared disappointing Vice President Harris.

CNN's Dana Bash and Jake Tapper were also critical of Walz, each pointing out his lack of debate preparation. Bash suggested that Walz might have been too rehearsed, while Tapper noted that Walz struggled to respond quickly to Vance's criticisms of Harris.

At one point during post-debate analysis, Tapper mentioned that Vance was a "much more experienced" debater, a point that Bash attributed to Walz—and Harris—not having conducted many media interviews.

“I think there was a clear lack of preparation and execution here,” Phillip commented.

Bash disagreed, saying, “I think he had too much preparation. He had so many lines that he was clearly trying to say.” She added that Walz’s limited experience with national and local media interviews showed during the debate.

Tapper remarked that "JD Vance is much more experienced with this, at public speaking and defending himself and pivoting," while Anderson Cooper concluded that Walz seemed nervous on stage.

“It kind of reminded me of the June 27 debate, when Kamala Harris that night said of Joe Biden, ‘It was a slow start, but a strong finish,’” said ABC News anchor Linsey Davis regarding Walz’s debate performance against former President Donald Trump’s running mate. “And that’s how I felt Tim Walz kind of did tonight,” she added, as reported by the New York Post.

Davis, who co-moderated the September 10 presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump with David Muir, suggested that Vance was more "effective" at challenging Harris on Tuesday compared to Trump’s attempt the previous month.

“I feel like that was really effective,” Davis said of Vance's debate performance, noting how he frequently pointed out that Harris had not acted on many of the issues she claims to support.