According to CNN’s instant (scentific) poll of debate watchers, 48 percent said that Mike Pence won, while 42 percent said Tim Kaine won. That seems about right to me. Pence was better than Kaine on both substance and style.
Pence was smooth, while Kaine appeared agitated when he interrupted and awkward when he recited cheesy lines about Pence being Trump’s “apprentice” or talked about how Hillary Clinton would be a “you’re hired” president, while Trump would be a “you’re fired” president. Much of the debate was conducted along normal ideological and partisan lines, and that ought to be a recipe for Republican victory in 2016.
Even so, it wasn’t a big win for Pence. He frequently failed to defend the GOP nominee who is anything but a normal Republican. When Pence was challenged about some of Donald Trump’s controversial or outlandish comments, the Indiana governor resorted to falsley claiming Trump had never said such things.
I suspect that what viewers will remember most from the debate was that there was a lot of squabbling, and Kaine was by far the worse offender in terms of interruptions. “The people at home cannot understand either one of you when you speak over each other,” the debate moderator said at one point. So it was hard for Pence to walk away with a very clear victory when the audience at home had a hard time hearing what either one was trying to say.
