Political scientists and historians who spoke to Newsmax after last night’s vice presidential debate agreed that the clash between Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Kamala Harris will have little — if any — impact on the presidential election.
Henry Olsen, senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, seemed to speak for all when he characterized the Salt Lake City debate as “a largely forgettable exchange that broke new ground.”
“And it won’t change anything,” predicted Olsen, the author of five books on contemporary politics.
Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute echoed Olsen’s view.
“Vice presidential debates rarely change trajectory of a campaign or change many votes,” he told Newsmax. “But if this one has any impact, it might be to energize more women upset over Pence repeatedly ignoring and talking over [moderator] Susan Page.”
“Neither one of them was flawless or anything close to it, but both Pence and Harris were far better than their bosses were last week,” said Dan Schnur, a professor at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism and the University of California, Berkeley's Institute of Governmental Studies.
Schnur, a veteran of four presidential and three gubernatorial campaigns in California, added that “[t]his may have been the most impactful vice presidential debate in history, but that still means that it had no impact whatsoever on the outcome of the election.”
“I’d say it was pretty even,” G. Terry Madonna, considered the premier pollster in Pennsylvania, told Newsmax. “The debate was very civil. There were some interruptions, but they were not mean spirited. Two minutes was not enough to get substantive responses.”
Larry Haas, former communications director to Vice President Al Gore and a senior fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council, called the debate “a good tussle” but quickly pointed out “it did nothing to change the basic dynamics of the presidential race. Vice President Pence did not change its direction tonight, as he desperately needed to do. As a result, the focus of the American people tomorrow will return to [President] Donald Trump, and tonight’s debate will be far in the rear view mirror.”
Christopher Whipple, author of the critically acclaimed book “The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency,” recalled how a fly landed on Pence’s head in the final moments of the debate.
In Whipple’s words, “I think the fly won the debate.”
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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