SALT LAKE CITY — Twelve feet, two plastic barriers and vastly different viewpoints separated the two vice presidential candidates on stage.
The debate between current Vice President Mike Pence and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris was expected to draw record audiences and a level of scrutiny unusual for a vice presidential debate.
“And that’s for two reasons,” said David O'Connell, associate professor of political science at Dickinson College. “One, because voters don’t usually make their decisions about which candidate they’re going to cast their ballot for based on the vice presidential nominee. And then on top of that, the vice president has minimal constitutional authority, little beyond casting tiebreaking votes in the Senate.”
The 2020 election offers two of the oldest presidential candidates in history.
Former Vice President Joe Biden is 77 years old. President Donald is 74 years old and was recently seriously ill with coronavirus.
“Simply because of the age and health of two older men running for president with preexisting conditions, then people are going to play a little more attention to the next in the line,” O’Donnell said.
The candidates both honed in topics that strengthened their case to the American people.
Harris sharply criticized the Trump administration’s response to the COVID-19 crisis, calling it “the greatest failure of any presidential administration in the history of our country.”
The latest FiveThirtyEight poll average data show 56.6 percent of Americans disapprove of the Trump Administration’s handling of the crisis, while 40.5 approve.
“They still don’t have a plan,” Harris said. “Well, Joe Biden does. Our plan is about what we need to do around a national strategy for contact tracing, for testing, for administration of the vaccine and making sure it will be free for all.”
Pence hammered on the economy, one of Trump’s strongest selling points.
“The American economic, the American comeback is on the ballot,” Pence said.
RealClearPolitics poll average data finds 50.9 percent of Americans approve of the Trump administration’s handling of the economy, while 47.1 percent disapprove.
“With the rise in wages that occurred, most predominantly for blue-collar, hard-working Americans, the average household income for a family of four increased by $4,000 following President Trump’s tax cuts. But American, you just heard Senator Harris tell you, on day one, Joe Biden’s gonna’ raise your taxes,” Pence said.
The tone of the debate was markedly more civil than the presidential debate last week, in which the candidates frequently insulted and talked over one another.
The content discussed in the debate Wednesday may be the last opportunity for the parties to present their ideas, as the future of the presidential debates remains in question.
The second presidential debate is scheduled for Oct. 15.
However Biden told reporters Wednesday the debate may be cancelled if Trump is still contagious with COVID-19.
