Become part of the movement for unbiased, accessible election information. Donate today.
Commentary on the 2016 vice presidential debate
Ballotpedia's scope changes periodically, and this article type is no longer actively created or maintained. If you would like to help our coverage grow, consider donating to Ballotpedia.
 Date: November 8, 2016 |
Winner: Donald Trump (R) Hillary Clinton (D) • Jill Stein (G) • Gary Johnson (L) • Vice presidential candidates |
Important dates • Nominating process • Ballotpedia's 2016 Battleground Poll • Polls • Debates • Presidential election by state • Ratings and scorecards |
2028 • 2024 • 2020 • 2016 Have you subscribed yet?
Join the hundreds of thousands of readers trusting Ballotpedia to keep them up to date with the latest political news. Sign up for the Daily Brew.
|
This page was current as of the 2016 election.
The columns below were authored by guest columnists and members of Ballotpedia's senior writing staff. The opinions and views belong to the authors.
Pence’s debate performance boosts his image
October 5, 2016
By Karlyn Bowman
Karlyn Bowman, a widely respected analyst of public opinion, is a senior fellow and research coordinator at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington, D.C.
ABC News reported that after Virginia Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine left mass on Sunday morning, he told reporters that he just needed to “be myself” in the October 4 vice presidential debate. “I’m calm,” said Hillary Clinton’s number two. Well, he may have been calm on Sunday, but he wasn’t last night and Republican vice presidential nominee Mike Pence was.
Pence was relaxed and in control throughout the ninety minute exchange at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia. He didn’t defend the GOP standard bearer, Donald Trump, but Pence did what he needed to do carefully by turning the points back to Clinton’s actions with great skill.
Tim Kaine came off as the smartest kid in the class, jumping in and out to show the audience how prepared he was and how much he knew. He was loaded for bear, determined to press his points in a way that seemed overly aggressive for the mild-mannered Pence. It didn’t work. Pence won.
Americans want a certain comfort level with their candidates. They want to feel they could sit down and talk with them over a cup of coffee or a beer. My guess is that in other situations, people would be comfortable with both of these individuals who have exemplary records of service to their communities and to the nation. But last night, Kaine didn’t appear to “be myself.” Did he score some points? Of course, but Pence had the calmer demeanor and cooler temperament, something that couldn’t be said of his running mate in the first debate.
Would Pence best Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, John Kasich, and others in a debate in Iowa in 2020 if this election doesn’t go his way? If last night's performance was an indication, and if the Hoosier Republican he decides to reach for the GOP presidential nomination four years from now, he will be a formidable contender.
Will Pence’s debate performance change anything?
October 5, 2016
By James A. Barnes
James A. Barnes is a senior writer for Ballotpedia and co-author of the 2016 edition of the Almanac of American Politics.
If you look at the history of presidential debates, you can’t expect that Indiana Republican Gov. Mike Pence's solid performance over Democrat Tim Kaine in the vice presidential debate at Longwood University on October 4 is going to shake up the main contest between his running mate, Donald Trump, and Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee. Success on the understudies’ debate stage, or lack thereof, hasn’t moved the needle in the polls in past presidential elections.
In 1988, GOP vice presidential nominee Dan Quayle was on the receiving end of one of the best debate put-downs ever—Lloyd Bentsen’s “you’re-no-Jack-Kennedy” line. But the subsequent polls that election year didn’t change direction and the GOP ticket of George H.W. Bush and Quayle went on to a resounding victory. Likewise, Bob Dole's VP debate performance in 1976 is generally seen as one of the worst, capped by the wounded World War II veteran’s caustic jab that “Democrat wars” in the 20th century had accounted for the deaths of 1.6 million American military personnel. But in spite of Dole’s sarcasm and cutting manner, his running mate, incumbent GOP President Gerald R. Ford, continued to gain ground on Democratic challenger Jimmy Carter in the polls, coming within a whisker of achieving one of the greatest comebacks in presidential campaign history.
As one Democratic Insider aptly noted in a Ballotpedia survey of political operatives from both parties, a vice presidential debate can have the half-life of ripe tomato. “Pence won,” acknowledged the Democratic Insider, “but in 48 hours, no one will even remember it happened.” That may be an overstatement, but the thrust of the point is correct.
Since 2000, every Democratic vice presidential nominee has been primed not to pull a Joe Lieberman, who was seen as too easy-going in his vice presidential debate with Republican Dick Cheney that year. Joe Biden didn’t pile on Sarah Palin in 2008, sensitive perhaps to the miscues that men can make in debating women, but by 2012 he was aggressive and dismissive at times when he squared off against Paul Ryan in that year’s vice presidential debate.
Kaine was fulfilling the traditional role of the VP who is expected to take it to the other party's standard bearer. But in his zeal for that task he interrupted Pence too much and at times came across as rude and too tightly wound. Kaine’s attacks were standard fare for the give-and-take of political debates, but his delivery was at times was off-putting, obscuring some of the points he was trying to make.
I’m not sure how Pence was supposed to respond to Kaine’s challenge to defend some of Trump’s more controversial campaign statements. If he repudiated anything Trump had said, that would be the story coming out of the debate. "Even Trump's own running mate says..." If Pence actually defended those Trump statements, he'd open himself and his party up to the criticism, "See, all Republicans are alike and they agree with Trump..." Ignoring Kaine’s challenges or trying to dismiss them, as he attempted a couple of times, was probably the best course for Pence. You’d loose points for that kind of tactic in a collegiate debate, but it seems like the smartest move Pence could make. Voters expect politicians to dodge and weave. And Trump's statements are going to live on in commercials and commentary no matter what Pence said on Tuesday night.
Many observers described Pence as poised and smooth in deflecting Kaine’s attacks. But he hasn’t always been so graceful under hot lights. Indeed, just last year, Pence acknowledged his uneven performance in an interview with ABC News Sunday morning talk show host George Stephanopoulos over gay rights in Indiana. Perhaps he learned from that experience. It’ll be Trump’s task on Sunday night when he squares off again against Clinton to show that he learned something from his underwhelming performance in his first debate.
And the biggest winners from Pence’s debate showing—how about Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his Republican colleagues? If Pence’s fellow Hoosier Republicans show some extra hometown pride after the vice presidential debate and turn out in bigger numbers in Indiana for the Republican ticket, that could help boost GOP Rep. Todd Young who is locked in a tight battle with Democrat Evan Bayh over the Senate seat that Bayh once held. One seat could be the difference in deciding which party controls the Senate after November 8. Wouldn’t it be ironic—with some incumbent Republican Senators distancing themselves from their party’s presidential nominee—if Trump’s running mate helped save the Senate for the GOP?
See also
- Presidential debates (2015-2016)
- Vice presidential debate at Longwood University (October 4, 2016)
- Insiders give Pence the edge in VP debate
