(ABC News) It’s important to make a good first impression — whether you’re on a first date, interviewing for a job or running to be vice president of the United States. And the two men who recently joined the Republican and Democratic presidential tickets have made very different first impressions.
According to 538’s new polling average of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s favorable and unfavorable ratings, the Democratic candidate for vice president has an unusual quality for a modern politician: He’s well liked. As of Aug. 15 at 1 p.m. Eastern, 38 percent of Americans have a favorable opinion of him, and 33 percent have an unfavorable opinion of him.
Democrats’ initial branding of Walz — as a paternal former teacher, coach and National Guardsman — seems to have caught on, especially immediately after he was announced as Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate, when multiple polls found him with a double-digit positive net favorability rating (favorable rating minus unfavorable rating). Since then, his unfavorable rating has risen a bit faster than his favorable rating as Republicans have accused him of exaggerating his military service, but he still has a solid +5-point net favorability rating on average.
By contrast, Americans aren’t vibing with the Republican vice-presidential nominee. On average, only 33 percent have a favorable opinion of Sen. JD Vance, while 42 percent have an unfavorable one.
Americans were cool toward Vance from the start: Three days* after he was announced as former President Donald Trump’s running mate, his net favorability rating was -3 percentage points (26 percent favorable, 29 percent unfavorable). But since then, he has faced a rash of bad headlines about his past comments calling Harris a “childless cat lady,” his past support for a national abortion banand even a baseless internet rumor about having sex with a couch. The poor rollout pushed his net favorability rating down even further, to -9 points.
But, at the end of the day . . .
