Next week's highly anticipated vice presidential debate between Republican Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio and Democratic Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota will surely generate some buzz, but it likely won't make much of a difference in swaying undecided voters toward either former President Donald Trump or Vice President Harris, sources said.
Still, experts who spoke to Fox News Digital said there could be indirect effects in a very close election that can't be completely ignored.
“Vice presidential debates are usually pretty [low-profile]”Vice presidential debates tend not to get as much attention as presidential debates,” Christopher Devine, author of “Do Running Mates Matter?: The Influence of Vice Presidential Nominees on Presidential Elections,” said in an interview with Fox News Digital.
Devine suggested that while the debate will likely have some talking points, it is unlikely to generate the same level of interest or impact on voters as the 2008 vice presidential debate when Republican John McCain's nominee, Sarah Palin, faced off against then-Senator Joe Biden.
Vance says he will continue to refer to Haitian immigrants as “illegal immigrants” even though he's on parole.
On the left is Senator J.D. Vance, and on the right is Governor Tim Walz. (Fox News Digital Photo Illustration/Getty Images)
“But the vice presidential nominee, knowing that they might have picked J.D. Vance no matter who Donald Trump picked, or that they might have picked Tim Walz no matter who Kamala Harris picked, has what we call an indirect effect on vote choice in that it influences how people think about the presidential candidates and how they behave on the debate stage,” Devine added.
Tebi Troy, a presidential historian and former member of George W. Bush's cabinet, agreed, but said a president's performance will have a bigger impact on how the public views him.
“A lot of the vice presidential debates are completely forgettable,” Troye told Fox News Digital.
J.D. Vance's debate prep strategy includes hiring prominent lawmakers to play Waltz.
Vice President Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (LE Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
“This year may be different because she wasn't running for the nomination, and therefore wasn't subject to the scrutiny that came with the Harris-Waltz covert campaign,” he continued. “Since then, she has been very reluctant to do unscripted interviews, and when she does, it's usually with very friendly reporters, and even in the debates with Trump, the impression is that the moderators were harder on Trump than they were on her.”
“Waltz [been] When I asked him about his opinion of her, he was vague about it because what she had done in the past, was pretty liberal. [one of the] “If one of the most liberal senators in the country does not have her support, it will be unpopular and will not help her political prospects,” Troy added. “But Vance also has some history that has come to light and generated bad press, such as the cat woman incident, and Walz has not been shy about attacking and criticizing Vance.”
Fox News Poll: Harris leads Trump by 2 points
Former President Trump and Ohio Senator J.D. Vance (Reuters/Mike Seeger)
A Fox News poll conducted this month after the Harris vs. Trump debate found that voters thought Harris performed better than Trump.
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With no further presidential debates scheduled until November, the vice presidential candidates will be making their final head-to-head pitches to voters about their respective campaigns.
Both candidates are sure to attack the other, with Vance likely to focus on Waltz's progressive policies in Minnesota and Waltz likely to portray Vance as an extremist, citing comments he made on abortion before joining the Trump campaign.
The CBS Vice Presidential Debate will air on Tuesday, October 1st at 9pm ET. Simulcast on Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network.
