Who Won the Vice Presidential Debate? Experts Evaluate Pence vs. Harris

Vice President Mike Pence and Senator Kamala Harris spent ninety minutes in the showdown at Wednesday night's vice presidential debate.

Speaking over plexiglass barriers, Pence and Harris spoke about various issues during the VP debate. Some of the VP debate topics included the government's response to the coronavirus pandemic, the state of the economy, as well as other relevant issues.

Unlike the presidential debate last week, the first and only VP debate had a different tone, as BBC noted. Pence did interrupt at times but there were less chaotic moments.

Harris, for example, remained calm at one point and asked the vice president to let her speak her mind.

The topics of last night's debate touched on more substance as while some questions were dodged, there were also some good answers.

John Bennett, Washington Bureau Chief of The Independent, also said there were some "memorable lines" from the debate. He added that both Pence and Harris reminded the people of their credentials.

"She reminded voters she was a prosecutor. He reminded conservatives he's one of them," said Bennet. These were good points on persuading voters to vote for them.

New York Post, just like they did last week, consulted a panel of experts to assess the vice presidential hopefuls.

Delivering the Message

Matt Mackowiak, a longtime Republican strategist, said both sides of the debates delivered their points well. Both sides were also on the attack and dodged questions they refused to answer.

For Mackowiak, it's not clear if any of the candidates made "any real ground." Meanwhile, Republican strategist Leticia Remauro said Pence had the edge.

"He delivered his message in a measured, even tone which connected with viewers," she said. For Remauro, Harris failed to connect with viewers "because she came off angry and jumpy."

Eric Soufer, who worked on presidential campaigns before, said Harris won. "COVID and its devastating consequences are the only things that matter," Soufer said, adding that Harris made good points on the matter during the debate.

The experts also analyzed some key portions of the VP debate.

COVID-19 Pandemic

Both Soufer and Mackowiak believe Harris started the debate strong with the COVID-19 pandemic issue.

Soufer said Harris' move to dismantle the administration's "failure" with the pandemic was a strong point. But Mackowiak countered, saying Pence also presented the administration's efforts in saving lives amid the pandemic.

For that, Remauro Pence was the real winner of this segment. He managed to defend his case and the administration.

Surprisingly, both candidates did not discuss the spread of COVID-19 in the White House. It would have been an obvious line of attack from Harris that failed to pop up.

The Economy

Both Mackowiak and Remauro believed Pence performed better than Harris when it came to the economy.

"Pence rightly focused on the Biden-Harris plan to increase taxes by $4 trillion," explained Mackowiak.

Remauro concurred, saying this talking point threw Harris "off her game."

But for Soufer, it was a low point for Pence. He said there wasn't any mention of a "coherent plan for what they'll do to get us out of this mess."

Climate

From BBC's analysis, it was pointed out the both sides were not at ease talking about climate.

Pence warned that the Green New Deal, which was sponsored by Harris, could "crush American energy." He accused Biden of wanting to "abolish" the fossil fuel and ban fracking.

But Harris pointed out that that accusation was false. Pence also dodged a question on whether climate change is a threat to the planet, stating he would "follow the science."

While Harris pointed out that climate change is an "existential threat" to the globe, she joined Biden in failing to give a proper government response for it.

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