What Went Down During The Vice Presidential Debate

Per our survey with Ipsos, the economy was the top issue for respondents who are more likely to vote for Trump than Biden: 40 percent selected it, compared to only 9 percent of Biden supporters. COVID-19 is named much less frequently by Trump supporters: Just 17 percent said it was the most important issue facing the country. Violent crime follows in third place, and the Supreme Court is fourth, with 8 percent.

The debate is turning to the economy. In a Quinnipiac University poll conducted in mid-September, 24 percent of likely voters said the economy was the most important issue in deciding their vote. Law and order was the second-most-common response at 17 percent, followed by the coronavirus and racial inequality tied at 13 percent, health care and the Supreme Court tied at 8 percent, climate change at 6 percent, and immigration at 4 percent.

The topic turns to the economy. The last jobs report before the election was overshadowed last Friday by the news of Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis. But it might not have had much of a political impact anyway — because it showed that the economy is continuing to recover (albeit slowly) but levels of unemployment are still high, which means that partisans can basically look at it and see what they want to see.