A focus group of Democrats, independents and Republicans reacted to the moment Gov. Tim Walz claimed to have been in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen massacre and called himself a “lunatic.”
During Tuesday night's CBS News vice presidential debate, the moderators confronted Walz about this claim. Walz acknowledged that he first traveled to Asia in August 1989, several months after the April 15 massacre. Focus groups found that voters were initially skeptical of Walz's answers, but eventually recovered.
“Can you explain that contradiction?” the moderator asked, as the focus group remained neutral.
“You see, I grew up in a small, rural Nebraska town of 400 people, a town where I rode my bike with my buddies until the streetlights came on and was proud of our service. I joined the National Guard and worked.'' I worked on my family's farm and then I used the GI Bill to become a teacher. In the summer of my first year, I had the opportunity to go to China 35 years ago. We can do that,” Walz said.
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Minnesota Governor Tim Walz admitted that he is often “dumb” when asked about his claims that he was in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen massacre. (Getty Images)
“I came back and started a program to bring young people to China. I took basketball teams, I took baseball teams, I took dancers, and I went back and forth to China,” he added.
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Focus groups showed that support from Republicans, independents and Democrats all fell below support for the first part of Walz's response.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (right) gave a rambling response when a debate moderator confronted him about his claims about traveling to China. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
But Mr. Walz continued to acknowledge that he could be “sometimes a bitch,” and he rose to the occasion among independents and Democrats.
“We're going to talk a lot and we're going to get caught up in the rhetoric,” he said, as support among independents exceeded 50% in focus groups.
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Walz's approval rating among Republicans has fallen to its lowest point (less than 10%), but he said former President Donald Trump would have benefited if he had participated in the trip to China, and that Trump He claimed he would never have become friends with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
