Vice presidential debates have never moved the needle

By Katherine Doyle

Published October 7, 2020 10:30am ET

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Vice presidential debates have never moved the needle — Vice President Mike Pence speaks to members of the media at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Monday, Oct. 5, 2020, as he leaves Washington for Utah ahead of the vice presidential debate schedule for Oct. 7. | (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)

Vice President Mike Pence and California Sen. Kamala Harris will face off on Wednesday for the first and only vice presidential debate during the 2020 campaign. But if history is any guide and people continue to vote the top of the ticket, the debate won’t change much.

An analysis published by Gallup in 2012 declared that the median change following vice presidential debates in 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2008 was 1 percentage point.

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