Pollster Frank Luntz told Fox News following the vice presidential debate on Wednesday night that Vice President Mike Pence was the winner of the debate, saying that voters were turned off by Harris’ “condescending” and “abrasive” attitude toward Pence.
“The complaint about Kamala Harris was that she was abrasive and condescending,” said Luntz, who analyzed reactions from voters in various swing states. “The complaint about Mike Pence was that he was too tired, but [he was] vice presidential, or presidential. If this is a battle over style and substance — which is often the case with undecided voters because they simply do not choose on policy, they also choose on persona — this was Mike Pence’s night.”
Luntz said that voters disliked the candidates dodging questions but overall they were much happier with the way the debate went vs. the way the first debate went.
Luntz said that while voters were frustrated with the vice president for repeatedly running over his allotted time, “Harris’ reactions to Pence — the smiling, the smirking, the scowling’ left them far ‘angrier’ with her performance,” Fox News reported.
Luntz said that voters were “more agitated with Kamala’s presentation than they were with Mike Pence.”
“I’ll be blunt with you. If there are no more presidential debates, then Joe Biden is the next president of the United States, and I have no hesitation in saying that. I know that there will be eruptions all over 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue,” Luntz said. “Donald Trump needs those debates to bring the answers that he has and the challenges that Joe Biden has to the American people.”
“Without that, Joe Biden can coast,” Luntz added. “Doesn’t need to go to events. And he wins based on the current polling numbers. So Trump needs debates. However, I have faith in the presidential commission that they will do the right thing, and the people on that commission put their country ahead of their party, and that’s brilliant.”