Donald Trump ‘absolutely delighted’ by JD Vance during debate: advisor

Donald Trump is “absolutely thrilled” with JD Vance’s performance in the vice presidential debate against Tim Walz, the former president’s campaign adviser said.

The two candidates faced off in a debate on CBS News Tuesday night, about five weeks before Election Day.

Vance went into this with a lower approval rating than his counterpart, and Trump apparently downplayed expectations for his running mate when he said the debate would be “rigged” against Vance.

But Trump was “absolutely thrilled with JD Vance’s performance,” senior campaign adviser Danielle Alvarez told Fox News on Tuesday night.

“It is very clear that JD Vance was able to articulate the message of the Trump-Vance ticket, was able to remind voters of the four prosperous years President Donald J. Trump was in the White House and was able to take Tim Walz to the White House. stain on Kamala Harris’ failed three and a half years,” she said, adding that “it was an incredible performance.”

“The president was thrilled and I think the American people know the choice between them,” she said.

Trump wrote on Truth Social that Vance had “crushed” him multiple times, then posted a message directly to the Ohio senator, saying, “GREAT JOB JD – We WILL MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” »

Similarly, Kamala Harris and her campaign team, using the Kamala HQ account, posted several clips of Walz’s debate performance on X, formerly Twitter.

Before the debate, Harris wrote to his running mate: “Tim Walz, it’s game time. I can’t wait for the country to see you in action.”

People seem generally divided on the question of who won the debate, although it will take a few days for reliable data to be available on this subject.

A CBS/YouGov flash poll of 1,630 voters showed 42 percent thought Vance won, while 41 percent supported Walz and 17 percent said it was a tie. The survey has a margin of error of +/- 2.7 percent.

Vance won on the economy (51%) and immigration (52%), while Walz won on abortion (62%) and health care (59%). They are linked to the conflict in the Middle East (50 percent).

Vance and Walz generally stuck to a policy-focused debate, in which both men said they believed their opponent wanted to solve the major issues, namely the economy, immigration, reproductive rights and gun violence.

But there were tense moments, including one over the Jan. 6 riots at the Capitol, where Walz said he and Vance were “miles apart” on the subject, calling Vance’s argument that the issue involved censoring “overwhelming non-response”.

News week contacted the Trump, Vance and Harris-Walz campaign teams, via email, for additional comment.