State of Democra-Z: Takeaways from the vice presidential debate

It appears that most snap polls taken after Tuesday night’s Vice Presidential debate have voters thinking each candidate did okay. Polls taken for Politico and CBS News show voters evenly split on whether Gov. Tim Walz or Sen. JD Vance won the face-off.

While the event is not expected to push many voters to one side or another, it offered a closer look at the men who could be second in command. For the latest in our series, State of Democra-Z, MPR News host Cathy Wurzer checks in with two Gen-Z voters to find out what stood out to them.

• Cory Hallada is a senior at St. Olaf College who previously worked with the Trump campaign.

• Maddie Christensen is a recent Hamline University graduate, where she was a leader of the school’s College Democrats.

The following is a transcription of the audio heard using the player above, lightly edited for clarity.

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So Maddie, what did you think of Walz’s performance?

Maddie Christensen: Well as a Minnesota native myself, I have really seen Gov. Tim Walz go above and beyond in terms of what he’s willing to do for our state and now what he’s willing to do for our country.

And while last night, at first, I am not going to lie, I did get a little bit nervous. But as I am right now, I’m shaky right now, and he was a little bit too. But by that second question, he really pulled through and gave the American people a glimpse of the person he truly is.

And one of the things that also really stood out was, of course, the Midwestern class that I’ve known from him, and I’m really hoping to see a lot more of this as we are winding down and down into the day of the election. It’s going to be super, super exciting and really interesting to see what really happens.

Follow up question here, did you get a sense listening to Walz of how he might lead on the national level?

Christensen: Absolutely. One of the things that really stood out to me was just how down to earth he truly is. He brought up a lot of very passionate issues, such as talking about gun violence, about how his son witnessed something like that, and as someone who came from a small town who had gun violence ourselves in Buffalo, Minnesota in 2021, that was a really touching moment to see both candidates bond and really see their condolences and really see what our future looks like in terms of issues such as that.

And one of the things too is while he didn’t get as fiery as I had hoped, he definitely kept an even keel throughout his performance

Cory, the last time we talked you said you were a little disappointed with former President Trump’s debate performance. How do you think JD Vance did?

Cory Hallada: I think JD Vance did a very good job in this debate. I think he did a very good job staying on point, which Trump often struggled with that he did a good job of pushing the why not do it no point regarding Kamala Harris.

I think something that was floating around a lot with him is the narrative that JD Vance was this very weird guy, and I think he did a very good job showing himself to be a fairly normal and well spoken person in the debate.

Did you get an impression as to how he might be in a Trump administration?

Hallada: I guess I did. Think it was quite funny that he kind of mentioned that he grew up in a middle class family, which seems to be every candidate has to say that now, but I think he kind of offered, it seemed to be some reassurance for people that are worried about Trump being more erratic, he seemed to maybe be someone that could offer a very calming presence to the Trump administration.

Gov. Walz asked Sen. Vance if President Trump lost the 2020 election, and Vance didn’t answer the question. He avoided it. What’d you think of that moment?

Hallada: Yeah, I didn’t really like it too much. I understand that Vance is in a weird position where many people in the Trump camp feel very strongly that Trump won that election. So I don’t think he wanted to make those people upset or Trump upset. It was really a tough spot for him.

I do think that he did about as good as he could have by kind of, you know, deflecting a little bit and changing the topic to censorship and things like that. But considering that, it didn’t seem like he wanted to concede that, I think he did about as well as he could answering those questions.

Maddie, what did you think?

Christensen: I thought that was honestly one of the darkest moments of the debate. He had an opportunity to showcase whether or not he was willing to tell the truth, and the truth is, Donald Trump lost the election, and Joe Biden won the presidency, and here is where we are right now.

And as Tim Walz said, it was a damning non-answer. He said he wanted to look for the future, but then proceeded to go back to Kamala Harris and attack her for, quote, unquote, for not doing more with censorship or preventing it, when in reality, that was beyond her control. So I think that while I do agree that he did keep an even keel, I was very disappointed with that answer.

What did you think of the fumble Walz had early on on when moderators asked him about his past statements about China?

Christensen: I will say I was a bit, I wouldn’t say annoyed, but I wasn’t exactly happy with the fact that he said that he was in Hong Kong at that time when reality he was not. However, he did his best to state that, yes, I did misspeak, but he talked about what he did in that territory, in that country, and really showed again the community that he helped to really bolster there.

However, going back to your question, I was not exactly happy that he misspoke about that, and I wish he may have said, You know what? And make it very clear that he did misspeak and go on from there. But I think overall, it was a good moment for him to clarify what exactly transpired.

What was the significance of it at all for you?

Hallada: I think it was a very damning moment in itself. And I think what made it particularly bad is he did kind of give a long answer the first time, but when the moderators had to repeat the question, I think that was a very bad look. I think if he had maybe answered more directly right at first and just said he had misspoken right from the start, it could have been much less bad for him.

Was there something missing that you really wanted to hear?

Hallada: I think with most of the issues that were covered, I was pretty happy with it. I was expecting to hear more about Tim Walz’s military record, a little bit and but as far as the topics covered, I’m not too upset. I do think that JD Vance missed some points on abortion I think he could have had opportunities to push back. I think he was a little I’m too apologetic on that issue. So there’s some things I would have wanted to hear from Vance. But as far as the topics discussed, I was pretty happy with it.

Maddie, was there something missing for you?

Christensen: I believe that the topics covered were a great variety, and I believe that both candidates really shone a light as to what they thought on those issues. I will say, I think that as we are growing into the age of social media, I think it would have been very interesting to talk more about that, that impact, and you know some of those statements that were said in the past, and whether or not people still believe in those past statements, or if they’re willing to recant or change their viewpoints.

I think that would have definitely been very interesting to listen to, however, overall, I would definitely say that I am satisfied with what we saw last night.

Have you ever seen a debate this civil since you, since you’ve been interested in politics Cory?

Hallada: Yeah, it was weird. I was just thinking about that. When I was thinking back on this debate, I was thinking it reminded me of kind of debates pre-Trump. And then I thought about a little more, like, am I even old enough to really, actually have seen one of those debates?

So it was very refreshing to kind of see them being very cordial with each other, and I don’t really think that I’ve witnessed a presidential debate, at least live in person that was like that.

Maddie, what did you think?

Christensen: Yeah, I believe that I haven’t seen that in such a long time, either, especially when it comes to the top of the ticket races. The first few debates that I’ve watched, I believe were the Trump and Hillary debates, and those were pretty civil.

But I believe that over the years, especially during the pandemic and beyond, a lot of the discourse we have seen has become very just, I would say vile, just people attacking left and right, and, you know, going below the belt with their remarks.

And that was a breath of fresh air that I saw last night. And a lot of people I’ve been seeing jokes on TikTok saying they almost fell asleep because they thought it was boring. But in reality, I think that is what a debate is supposed to look like, cordial and both sides getting the opportunity to explain their viewpoints.