The United States’ vice presidential candidates clashed in their first and likely only debate of the campaign over their handling of the Middle East crisis, immigration, taxes, abortion, climate change and the economy.
The debate between Democrat Tim Walz and Republican JD Vance, broadcast from the CBS Broadcast Center in New York (AEST) on Tuesday, featured many disagreements on policy but few personal attacks.
The two rivals, who have clashed during the campaign, struck a cordial tone and instead saved their fire for the candidates at the top of their lists: Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican former President Donald Trump.
Here are the key takeaways.
Focus on presidential candidates
Vance questioned why Harris had not done more to address inflation, immigration and the economy while serving in President Joe Biden’s administration, establishing a consistent line of attack that Trump often failed to deliver during his debate over Harris last month.
“If Kamala Harris has such grand plans to tackle the problems of the middle class, she should implement them now — not when she asks for a promotion, but in the job the American people gave her three and a half years ago.” , Vance said. .
Walz described Trump as an unstable leader who had prioritized billionaires and turned Vance’s criticism of the immigration issue on its head, attacking Trump for pressuring Republicans in Congress to pass a bipartisan border security bill earlier this year give.
“Most of us want to solve this,” Walz said of issues surrounding immigration in the US.
“Donald Trump had four years to do this, and he promised you, Americans, how easy it will be.”
The ninety-minute debate took place at the CBS Broadcast Center in New York and was watched by millions of people. Source: Getty / Chip Somodevilla
Microphones muted
Moderators at one point muted both participants at the same time, allowing moderators to speak, in accordance with rules agreed upon prior to the event.
Although debate participants’ microphones were not automatically muted when it was not their turn to speak — as in previous presidential debates in the campaign — moderators had the right to mute them at any time.
CBS News moderator Margaret Brennan told the two candidates, “Gentlemen, the audience cannot hear you because your microphones are turned off,” as co-moderator Norah O’Donnell began moving the debate discussion from immigration to the economy.
Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance is a senator for the state of Ohio. Source: Getty / Chip Somodevilla
Knucklehead Admission
Walz was asked about a recent report that he was not in China during the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, as he had previously claimed.
“I’m an idiot sometimes,” he said.
“I got there that summer and I was wrong about this. So I was in Hong Kong and China during the democracy protests, and that taught me a lot about what it means to be in government.”
Elections coming up
It was the third and likely final debate in the 2024 presidential election campaign, ahead of the November 5 elections.
It followed presidential candidates and the which led to Biden dropping out of the presidential race.
Kamala Harris’ running mate Tim Walz is currently governor of Minnesota. Source: Getty / Chip Somodevilla
Harris was widely seen as the winner of her only debate with Trump on September 10 in Philadelphia, which was watched by an estimated 67 million people.
That confrontation did little to change the trajectory of an extremely exciting election battle.
Although Harris has gained a lead in national polls, most surveys show voters remain fairly evenly divided in the seven “battleground states” that will decide the November election.
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