Top pollster Frank Luntz’s focus group overwhelmingly decided that Sen. JD Vance from Ohio was the victor against Minnesota Governor Tim Walz in the CBS Vice Presidential debate.
Wednesday on X, Luntz shared a clip of his post-debate focus group and wrote, “An overwhelming majority (12-2) said JD Vance won the debate, and also felt he was far better at communicating the MAGA agenda than Donald Trump.”
In the clip shared by the pollster, the focus group analyzed the responses of both former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mates — and found that it wasn’t even close.
Some of the answers the group gave were that Vance appeared “very battle-tested, very ready. You could just see he went to Yale and he’s very intelligent.” Another person added, “his strong control of the facts,” noting that Vance “ran the show.”
I joined @SaraSidnerCNN this morning to share results from my #VPDebate focus group.
An overwhelming majority (12-2) said JD Vance won the debate, and also felt he was far better at communicating the MAGA agenda than Donald Trump. pic.twitter.com/3aalhnhBX0
— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) October 2, 2024
One person said that Vance “humanized himself and actually looked like a regular guy.” The last comment will most likely please the Trump team after it had to battle a perception for weeks — created by Walz and the Democratic party — that Vance was “weird.”
Speaking to CNN, Luntz pointed out that the focus group loved both candidates and, if they could, they would reverse the tickets of the Republicans and Democrats, placing Vance and Walz at the top of the ticket for president.
He also said that only twice in his career, has he had a focus group that had such an overwhelmingly positive feeling about one candidate over the other as this one did about Vance. However, he did not explain further what the other example was.
When pressed by CNN how the group felt about Walz, he said they felt the first 30 minutes the Gov. was “stumbling” and “struggled,” but got better as the debate went on. He also said the focus group didn’t give him as high marks as Vance because they were critical of how Walz wasn’t “answering the questions” that the moderators posed to him.
The opinion that Walz did not beat Vance seemed to be a consistent one, as political commentators on the Left quickly pivoted their views to say that vice presidential debates don’t matter and are inconsequential, as previously reported.
“Here’s the thing,” David Axelrod, a former Barack Obama advisor, said. “VPs don’t make policy. Presidents do. Who talks about the Pence years?!?”
“I actually think most Americans fundamentally understand that the VP is not the President,” former Missouri Senator and MSNBC contributor Claire McCaskill added.
Related: Top Pollster Predicts Vance’s Debate Performance Will Sway Undecided Voters