Vice-presidential hopefuls JD Vance and Tim Walz faced off in Tuesday’s debate and to anyone watching, it felt more like a civil conversation about issues at the top of American voters’ minds going into next month’s election.
Unlike Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, Vance and Walz kept things pretty business-like, didn’t go off the rails and were, for the most part, pretty cordial with one another and instead most of the time criticizing the other’s running mate than each other.
But perhaps that only confused voters because according to BetOnline.ag, the debate only marginally moved the needle regarding the race’s projections.
The betting site has been seeing money steadily come in on the former president during the week leading into the debate, which shifted the odds back to a virtual tossup.
Immediately before the VP nominees’ showdown, the election odds for Harris were at -115 and Trump -105.
Immediately after debate, the odds put them at dead even with both at -110.
Walz has embraced his folksy demeanour and leaned into his Midwestern roots since he joined the ticket earlier this summer.
The Minnesota governor was shaky from the start, eventually hitting his stride when talking about abortion and the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.
Vance was polished and polite, which served him well during the policy-focused debate.
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There were moments the Republican candidate thoughts he was being unfairly fact-checked by the two CBS moderators, then turned it around and fact-checked them, but for the most part, the exchanges onstage were even-tempered.
There were also several moments when the two men agreed on issues — and made sure to point that out.
While Walz didn’t do any real harm to the Democrats, Vance’s strong performance have likely put Republicans a tad ahead — on the betting site and as the weeks wind down to Election Day.