by Anna Fleck, Oct 2, 2024

The vice presidential debate hosted last night by CBS News and broadcast nationally on TV is the first and only scheduled of its kind between Democratic pick Tim Walz and Republican select JD Vance. Following a heated debate between presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump last month, this round went remarkably smoothly, with the two nominees focusing largely on policy rather than personal attacks of one another. Topics covered included abortion, immigration and shootings.

The fact this debate went relatively drama-free has become something of an outlier in U.S. politics. According to a Pew Research Center survey in 2023, around eight in ten respondents said that the tone and nature of political debate in the United States has become less respectful and fact-based in recent years. Only two percent of respondents said that it had become more respectful and eight percent said it had become more fact-based. This view was shared by a majority of respondents who self-identified as being Republican-leaning and Democratic-leaning.

🔗 statista.com