What J.D. Vance and Tim Walz Need to Do in the VP Debate

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

63% : Vance needs to address his own logorrhea succinctly and pivot to a clear case that he and Trump represent the best option for those with a sour view of the status quo and the direction of the country.
46% : Another implication of the Boss watching closely is that Vance must very briskly dispatch any questions he gets about his 2016-era criticisms of Trump without getting bogged down in them or offering Walz a witty pile-on.
45% : But he really needs to leave viewers with the impression that he is closer to the mainstream in both values and policy preferences than his rival, who likely owes his selection by Trump to some of the former president's most dangerous advisers and acolytes (e.g., Steve Bannon, Tucker Carlson, and Donald Trump Jr.).
35% : Just as Vance needs to make short work of any questions about his fidelity to Trump, Walz needs to be prepared to briskly address questions about his National Guard service (and especially his attitude toward a possible deployment to Iraq, where Vance served in a noncombat position) and exactly what he did and didn't do when racial-justice protests in Minneapolis turned destructive in 2020.
31% : This could be a tough assignment, since his party base loves "owning the libs" in unpleasant ways, and Trump himself is going to be live-tweeting the debate on Truth Social and is not beyond criticizing his own running mate if he's insufficiently pugilistic.
22% : Without question, he'll need to amplify the case Harris has made that Trump is a threat to both personal liberties (especially reproductive rights) and to democracy while reassuring viewers that the Harris-Walz administration will be focused on improvements in living standards for middle-class Americans and will pay attention to public opinion.
22% : "On the other hand, it's notable that the debate between Harris and Trump, which was both dramatic and (according to a solid majority of viewers) decisive, does not appear to have affected the presidential contest in any enduring way.
12% : Trump himself seems to alternate constantly between asserting that Harris offers nothing more than a continuation of the Biden administration and proposing a dangerously radical new departure.

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