Who won the VP debate? Here's what debate watchers said in the CBS News poll

In the first – and probably only – Vice President Debate between Tim Waltz And JD VanceVoters watching Tuesday night said it was a fast even agreeand an overwhelming majority thought that the tone of the debate was positive.

Immediately after the debate, CBS News surveyed voters nationwide who said they had watched the debate to get their reaction.

Who won the debate – Vance or Walz?

42 percent of debate watchers said Vance won the debate, while 41 percent believed Walz emerged victorious. 17 percent described the debate as undecided.

Debate watchers were slightly more Democratic in party affiliation than voters nationwide. Let's get into the debateDemocrats were more enthusiastic about Walz than Republicans were about Vance, which perhaps explains the Democratic leanings of today's audience.

Both candidates sounded more “sensible” than “extreme” to the majority of debate watchers tonight.

And both candidates won a majority who said they were ready to become U.S. president if the need arose. Most partisans thought only their party's vice presidential candidate was prepared, while most independents said both were prepared.

Vance and Walz on the topics

On some issues that came up in the debate, including the economy and the conflict in the Middle East, the candidates were considered evenly matched. Walz was considered better at talking about health care and abortion, while Vance was ahead on immigration.

Post-debate opinions from Vance and Walz

Both candidates improved their overall image with voters before the debate. Before the debate, more debate watchers had an overall negative opinion of Vance, but after the debate slightly more had a positive than a negative opinion of him.

While observers found the overall tone of the debate to be positive, it was noted that Vance spent more time attacking Kamala Harris and Tim Walz than offering his own views. A growing number of voters said Walz spent most of his time explaining his views.

This CBS News/YouGov poll is based on 1,630 interviews with likely voters who said they watched the vice presidential debate on Tuesday, October 1, 2024. Respondents were previously surveyed between September 27 and 30, 2024 to indicate whether they wanted to follow the debate and whether they would be willing to be interviewed again after the debate. The error rate is +/- 2.7 points.

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