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Unlike the presidential debate, the debate tonight was calm and professional. There was not a clear winner in the vice presidential debate tonight because both the candidates had strong responses to almost every question. They seemed adequately prepared for this debate. With that said, Vice President Mike Pence was slightly stronger throughout the entirety of the debate, but Sen. Kamala Harris held her own against him.

Both Harris and Pence had very political and clearly prepared responses for each question. Notably, when asked about his response to the coronavirus, he responded, “Not a day has gone by that I didn’t think about the American people.” This is a very neutral response for someone who leads the White House’s coronavirus response team.

Throughout this debate, there was no name-calling, interruptions or emotional attacks, like we saw from the presidential nominees about a week ago. Both Harris and Pence set better examples for the American people than either former Vice President Joe Biden or President Donald Trump.

The main difference in their performances tonight is Harris seemed to be walking around many questions. While Harris got stronger as the night went on, Pence attacked her toward the end for not answering the question. She spent a good portion of her time talking about her family history.

Pence had especially strong points around Harris’ criminal justice history. Her response was equally strong. Pence spoke about climate change tactfully.

“The climate is changing. We’ll follow the science,” he said. Pence admitting to the reality of climate change is a big deal, given that President Donald Trump has consistently denied its existence. Though Pence did later attribute the wildfires to lack of forest maintenance, not climate change.

In a professional manner, Pence and Harris sent back-and-forth attacks related to the validity of each other’s points. With Pence saying to Harris, “You’re entitled to your own opinion. You’re not entitled to your own facts.” This was following an attack by her saying he was not sharing facts.

Facts weren’t the only thing they went back and forth on. They debated aggressively whether Biden supports fracking. Biden has said he will not ban fracking. They also strongly disagreed on whether Biden will raise taxes for people below the $400,000 income bracket. The Biden tax plan will not raise taxes for lower or middle class people, only those in that $400,000 or more bracket.

Without the hectic nature of the previous debate, the two candidates were able to take on important issues to American people, such as fracking, taxes, coronavirus and many others.

This was the first time Americans were able to see Harris and Pence debate pivotal issues related to their lives. Both candidates were professional, strong, calm and presidential. Arguably more presidential than both the presidential nominees.

Micaela Warren is a freshman communication and rhetorical studies major. Her column appears bi-weekly. She can be reached at mgwarren@syr.edu.

Published on October 8, 2020 at 12:29 am