WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican vice presidential nominee Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance is less popular among voters than his Democratic rival, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, according to a new Washington Post poll. Associated Press-NORC Public Policy Research Center.
Both Vance and Waltz were thrust into the spotlight this summer as relative unknowns. As the vice presidential candidates prepare to address large audiences in next week’s vice presidential debate, Democrats have been more favorable toward Waltz and Vice President Kamala Harris, while Republicans have been more favorable toward Vance and former President Donald Trump.
The new survey results strengthen the challenge for the Republican presidential candidate. Voting begins In a growing number of states.
Vance is not as popular as Waltz
Polls show that negative sentiment toward Vance is much more widespread than positive opinion: About half of registered voters have a somewhat or very unfavorable view of him, By the end of July, about 4 in 10 peopleMeanwhile, about a quarter have a somewhat or very favorable view of him, and a similar percentage say they don’t know enough about him to judge.
By contrast, Mr. Walz’s favorability rating is high: About 3 in 10 voters have an unfavorable view of him, about 4 in 10 have a favorable view, and about 3 in 10 are undecided.
The disparity in favorability extends to the candidates’ bases: About 70% of Democrats have a favorable opinion of Walz, while about 60% of Republicans have a favorable view of Vance.
Waltz is stronger than Vance in both genders.
Democratic candidates tend to get more support from women, while Republican candidates get more support from men, and the disparity is clear when you look at the favorability ratings for Trump and Harris, but Waltz is more popular with both men and women than Vance.
About four in 10 male and female voters have a favorable view of Walz, while about three in 10 men and about a quarter of women have a favorable view of Vance.
Mr. Walz is also more popular than Mr. Vance among voters over 60. Half of this demographic view Mr. Walz somewhat favorably or very favorably, while about three in 10 have a similar opinion of Mr. Vance.
Waltz is slightly weaker than Harris among black voters and women.
Despite Waltz’s lead over Vance in some areas, there are still some important Democratic groups to address: Roughly three-quarters of black adults have a favorable view of Harris, and about half say the same about Waltz. Harris also receives higher marks from women, about a third of whom don’t know Waltz well enough to form an opinion about him.
But overall, neither running mate is ahead of Harris or Trump among key demographic groups, and neither has the name recognition that the presidential candidate has among each party’s traditional base. For example, about a quarter of white voters without a college degree don’t know enough to talk about Vance, and about a quarter of voters ages 18 to 29 have no opinion of Waltz.
This means their popularity may continue to change as their national profile grows.
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The poll was conducted Sept. 12-16, 2024 among 1,771 registered voters using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for registered voters is plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.
