While most vice presidential debates have little impact on the election, a top pollster predicted on Wednesday that Sen. JD Vance’s perfor...
While most vice presidential debates have little impact on the election, a top pollster predicted on Wednesday that Sen. JD Vance’s performance against Gov. Tim Walz would convince undecided voters to show up for Republicans on November 5.
Conservatives and legacy media commentators praised Vance for appearing poised and taking numerous shots at the Democratic platform during Tuesday night’s debate. Cygnal pollster Brent Buchanan argued that Vance was a stark contrast to “Walz’s poor, bumbling performance.”
“We’re polling in Pennsylvania right now, and Harris would’ve been wise to pick [Pennsylvania Gov.] Josh Shapiro after Tim Walz’s poor, bumbling performance last night. Debates rarely persuade voters more than they solidify bases, but Vance’s performance last night, both in policy depth and political civility, showed undecided voters why his ticket is worth turning out for on Election Day,” Buchanan said in a statement. “Walz seemed to barely live up to the low expectations he set for himself.”
The latest polling from Cygnal, considered one of the country’s most accurate GOP polling firms, shows a tight race between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris in battleground states, including Pennsylvania.
A Cygnal poll of battleground states from last month showed Harris leading Trump in battleground states by just one percentage point. The poll was conducted after the debate between Trump and Harris, and while most of Cygnal’s respondents said Harris won the debate, Buchanan noted that the “race is still Trump’s.”
“When you look at where Biden was against Trump at this point, Harris is doing much worse in comparison,” Buchanan said last month.
The top pollster also said on Wednesday that the escalation in the Middle East between Iran and Israel, combined with a massive dockworkers’ strike in the U.S., “will impact the election.”
“If Israel strikes back at Iran’s oil infrastructure, expect prices to go higher. That, along with the dockworkers’ strike, is likely to cause either a spike in prices or a decrease in the availability of goods, both of which will impact the election,” he said. “Not sure this qualifies as an October surprise but these two issues set a new tone with little over a month till Election Day and offer a glimpse into how Trump or Harris might address them – the only difference is Harris currently has the power to address these challenges and she’s not showing leadership on that front.”
At the beginning of the debate, Vance and Walz were asked about Iran’s missile attack on Israel. Walz slammed Trump’s rhetoric and argued that the U.S. needs “steady leadership” on the world stage as Israel and Iran inch closer to a full-scale war. Vance responded to Walz’s answer, saying, “Donald Trump consistently made the world more secure.”
“When did Iran and Hamas and their proxies attack Israel? It was during the administration of Kamala Harris,” Vance added.
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