In an August 2020 YouGov Poll, half (51%) of Americans told us that they consider Joe Biden’s VP pick, Kamala Harris, a better debater than current vice president Mike Pence.
Related: About half of Americans believe Kamala Harris is a better debater than Mike Pence
With the first vice presidential debate of the 2020 election approaching, we asked our YouGov Chat users to go deeper and tell us what they really think about Harris and Pence’s debating skills. You can share your views on who you think is a better debater here.
Why do YouGov Chat users think Kamala Harris is a better debater than Mike Pence? Many Chat users were impressed by what they had seen from her previously, including in the Senate hearings.
Other Chat users wrote that Harris’ experience as a District Attorney and legal knowledge serves as an asset.
In contrast, for those who said Mike Pence is a better debater than Harris, many cited Kamala Harris’ performance at the Democratic primary debate.
For those who said Mike Pence is a better debater than Kamala Harris, most cited his demeanor, stating that the current vice president is calm and articulate.
Other Chat users cited Pence’s performance during his 2016 debate against Hillary Clinton’s running mate Tim Kaine.
For those who say Kamala Harris is a better debater than Pence, many say they have been unimpressed by Pence’s public speaking in the past.
Related: What voters think about Kamala Harris and Mike Pence ahead of the VP debate
The debate must go on: Most voters plan to watch the VP debate and say it should not be canceled
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Everyday, members of YouGov Chat are asked to share their opinion on a topic in the news. We allow anyone to take part in these chats, and do not display or weight results in real-time. Instead, to make the experience informative but still interactive, the chat displays weighted data from YouGov Direct to show them how the rest of the country voted. This enables us to pose the question to all, while retaining data accuracy and validity when communicating results.
YouGov chat seeks to add to the ‘what?’ (the quantitative poll result) by finding the ‘why?” (qualitative open ends) in a member’s own words. Learn more about YouGov Chat here.
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