The candidates engaged in a relatively civil debate that is uncommon these days with politics often consumed by sharp rhetoric and personal attacks. Vance and Walz frequently said they agreed with each other and acknowledged that their opponent wanted to solve problems facing the country, including immigration, but differed on how to solve them. 

The stakes are generally not very high for vice-presidential debates, but they were a bit higher with no other debates currently on the calendar before Nov. 5. And they were arguably a bit higher for Vance with the GOP running mate having been the subject of controversy for weeks over comments he made before and during the campaign, like the false claims of Haitian migrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio. 

As The Hill’s Caroline Vakil, Julia Manchester and Julia Mueller report, Vance demonstrated his debate skills, fending off tough questions and challenging the moderators over their fact-check of his Springfield comments. 

Vance received praise for his performance from both sides of the aisle, including his running mate. Former President Trump said Vance “crushed it.” 

“JD Vance put on a masterclass in how to handle biased moderators and a lying opponent, and it was a thing of beauty,” said conservative commentator Megyn Kelly. 

CNN commentator Alyssa Farah Griffin said she doesn’t agree with Vance on “quite a bit, but he speaks to MAGA in a way that he comes off as an incredibly effective communicator.” 

Walz on the other hand was shaky at times but on other occasions found his footing. He stumbled through an answer explaining a discrepancy in a story in which he claimed to have been in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989, though he didn’t travel to the area until months later. 

He had a higher point when he slammed Vance over his dodging of directly saying that Trump lost the 2020 election, with Walz calling it a “damning non-answer.” 

But polling appeared to show that viewers were split on who performed better and the night had no clear winner. Quick polls taken immediately after the debate from CBS and CNN showed Vance with just a slight edge but almost even with Walz. 

Both candidates’ favorability ratings improved in the CNN survey compared to before the debate. 

Perhaps most notably, an overwhelming 88 percent said in the CBS poll that the debate was generally positive, a stark contrast to other recent debates.