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CBS News VP debate poll shows voter reactions to tonight’s Vance-Walz showdown
In the first — and likely only — vice-presidential debate between Tim Walz and JD Vance, voters who watched Tuesday night said it was an almost even match, and an overwhelming majority felt the tone of the debate was positive.
Immediately following the debate, CBS News surveyed voters nationwide who reported watching it in order to get their reaction.
Who won the debate — Vance or Walz?
Forty-two percent of debate watchers said Vance won the debate, while 41% thought Walz emerged as the winner. Seventeen percent called the debate a tie.
Debate watchers were a bit more Democratic in their party affiliation than voters nationwide. Heading into the debate, Democrats were more enthusiastic about Walz than Republicans were about Vance, perhaps explaining the Democratic lean of tonight’s audience.
Both candidates sounded “reasonable” tonight to majorities of debate watchers, rather than “extreme.”
And both candidates drew majorities saying they are prepared to be U.S. president, should that become necessary. Most partisans felt only their party’s VP nominee is prepared, while most independents said both are.
Vance and Walz on the issues
The candidates were seen as even on some of the issues that came up at the debate, including the economy and the conflict in the Middle East. Walz was seen as better at talking about health care and abortion, while Vance had the edge on immigration.
Opinions of Vance and Walz after the debate
Both candidates improved their overall image with voters from before the debate. More debate watchers had a net-negative view of Vance before the debate, but after the debate, slightly more had a favorable view of him than an unfavorable one.
While watchers felt the overall tone of the debate was positive, Vance was seen as spending more time attacking Kamala Harris and Tim Walz than explaining his own views. More voters thought Walz spent most of his time explaining his views.
This CBS News/YouGov survey is based on 1,630 interviews of likely voters who reported watching the vice-presidential debate on Tuesday, October 1, 2024. Respondents were previously interviewed between September 27-30, 2024 to indicate whether they planned to watch the debate, and if they were willing to be re-interviewed after the debate. The margin of error is +/- 2.7 points.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed retaliation for Iran’s missile attack against Israel, saying Tehran would “pay for it.”
“The regime of Iran does not understand our determination to defend ourselves,” Netanyahu said in a statement delivered shortly after the attack, which came on the eve Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. “They will understand. We will stand by the rule we established: Whoever attacks, we will attack them.”
Iran launched at least 180 ballistic missiles toward Israel Tuesday evening, prompting alerts for people to take shelter across the country. The missiles were seen entering Israeli airspace from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Abdel Kareem Hana / AP
Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said many of the missiles were intercepted by Israel’s air defense systems, though some landed in southern and central Israel.
The U.S. helped Israel defend against Iran’s attack. In a statement late Tuesday night, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said “U.S. forces in the Middle East intercepted multiple missiles launched by Iran toward Israel,” calling it an “outrageous act of aggression by Iran.”
About 45 minutes after the attack began, and after multiple waves of interceptions, people were given the all-clear to leave their shelters.
Tsafrir Abayov / AP
Rescue services in Israel said two people were wounded by shrapnel, though their wounds were not serious. Palestinian authorities in the West Bank said one Palestinian man was killed by a missile that landed in Jericho, though it wasn’t clear where the missile came from, The Associated Press reported.
Iran said the barrage of missiles was its response to Israeli strikes against its proxy group, Hezbollah, in Lebanon.
Israel has carried out numerous airstrikes in southern Lebanon and Beirut in recent days, killing the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, and causing a million people in Lebanon to be displaced from their homes, according to Lebanon’s prime minister. Earlier on Tuesday, Israel said it had also launched a limited ground incursion into southern Lebanon.
It was unclear on Wednesday what kind of response to the Iranian missile attack Israel was planning to carry out, but concern was growing that it could spark a wider war in the region.
Iran’s armed forces joint chief, Maj. Gen. Mohammad Bagheri, said any further retaliatory actions against Iran would be met with attacks on Israeli infrastructure.
“If [Israel]… wants to continue these crimes or wants to do anything against our sovereignty and territorial integrity, tonight’s operation will be repeated several times stronger and all their infrastructure will be targeted,” Bagheri said, according to CBS News partner network BBC News.
For more than 90 minutes on live TV, the 2024 vice presidential nominees, Republican Sen. JD Vance of Ohio and Democratic Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, sparred over a wide range of issues in the first and only VP debate of the campaign, hosted by CBS News. If you missed the debate Tuesday night, you can watch a replay of the full broadcast in the video player above.
The two candidates faced questions from moderators Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan about the economy, immigration, abortion rights, the conflict in the Middle East, climate change, health care, housing costs and more — and offered sometimes sharply different visions for the nation’s future.
Immediately following the debate, CBS News surveyed voters nationwide who reported watching it in order to get their reaction. They were almost evenly divided over who they thought won — 42% said Vance and 41% said Walz, while 17% considered it a tie. A large majority, 88%, said they thought the tone of the debate was generally positive.
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