By Bryce Liao, Courier Managing Editor
While the general consensus is that Trump’s brash behavior lost the general public support the first presidential debate, his running mate, Mike Pence, has helped turn things around.
On Tuesday, October 4th, the Indiana governor masterfully handled the onslaughts of Clinton’s running mate, Virginia governor Tim Kaine.
Kaine spent most of the Vice Presidential debate hurling the worst of Trump’s derogatory statements in Pence’s face. He was loud, aggressive, and almost as interruptive as Trump himself.
Pence’s calm and collected attitude during the course of the debate, in contrast with Kaine’s aggressive behavior, has reassured faith in Trump.
Nevertheless, Kaine still managed to get in some jabs at Pence, continuously accusing him for supporting Vladimir Putin’s leadership policies, while Pence tried repetitively to deny it.
Perhaps the most revealing moment of the debate centered around religion and abortion. Pence naturally defended his stance on opposition to abortion and Planned Parenthood, but Kaine pronounced abortion as a religious decision. The two governors’ responses highlighted the complexities and major differences between the Trump and Clinton campaign.
Another significant difference arose on the topic of police officer expectations. Kaine railed against the militarization of the police force and Donald Trump’s stop-and-frisk method, while Pence criticized the Black Lives movement, and openly supported the police force.
While both Vice Presidential candidates cut clear differences between the character of their running mates and campaigns, Pence’s calm manner throughout the entirety of the debate has provided a much-needed relief to the Trump campaign. At this point, it is still extremely difficult to make a decision based solely on observing such debates.