My immediate assessment of Tuesday’s debate giving the advantage to Tim Walz went against the grain of most commentators. I persist and sign.
• Also read: Running mate debate: JD Vance and Tim Walz engage in a civilized duel
• Also read: Walz wins a debate that will have little effect
This rather courteous debate was different from the kind of spectacle to which Donald Trump had accustomed us.
Obviously, JD Vance is a good talker. Those who value appearances have conceded victory, but there are good reasons to believe the opposite.
A shared verdict
The audience may be wiser than the talking heads, as most polls of debate listeners suggest a tie.
According to Politico, a clear majority (58%) of independent voters who followed the debate gave Walz the winner.
Both candidates improved their favorability, but Walz, who was already better perceived, benefited from a greater gain (CNN/SSRS poll).
In short, after the debate, Walz is perceived more favorably than before, especially among independents, while Vance is still perceived negatively.
This defeat feels like a victory, right?
JD’s sweet lies
Some commentators praised the “high quality” of this debate and praised Vance for being able to express Trumpist ideas without Trump’s crazy behavior.
The problem is that Trump’s ideas are often lies. Even delivered in a honeyed tone by a graduate of the great schools, a lie remains a lie.
Most fact-checkers have pointed out that Vance has spouted more than his share of falsehoods while several of Walz’s controversial claims were factually correct.
When the host reminded that the Springfield Haitians demonized by Vance and Trump do indeed have legal status, Vance complained that she was not honoring CBS’ commitment to let him lie with impunity. There’s a name for this kind of complainer: loser.
Do you believe that a debate riddled with lies serves the interests of voters, or that a debater who blatantly lies should be declared the winner because he performs well? I don’t. The losers in this debate were the voters and JD Vance.
A Big Disqualifying Lie
Of course, Tim Walz made mistakes. The worst was not attacking hard enough the insanity of Trump’s big promises, notably his tariffs that would stifle the global economy and his fad of deporting more than ten million migrants.
Walz made an embarrassing slip of the tongue about befriending shooters (he meant the victims), but that’s nothing compared to Vance’s refusal to admit that Trump lost the election. 2020.
On this subject, the gospel of the MAGA movement forbids contradicting the Big Lie of Donald Trump, who never accepted the verdict of the 2020 polls and will certainly contest that of 2024 if he loses again.
At the end of the day, I judged that Walz had won “narrowly”. If I could have seen the final exchange where Walz condemned Vance for his refusal to admit Trump’s defeat in 2020, I would have concluded it was a knockout
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