Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz stunned observers of Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate when he fidgeted nervously, frowned and even called himself a “knucklehead” — while his Republican counterpart, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, had a calm and lawyerly demeanor Presentation was held and was widely viewed as the winner.

At the largely good-natured forum moderated by CBS News, the two candidates repeatedly agreed and expressed their warm personal feelings – while avoiding the sharp personal attacks that were part of both presidential debates earlier this year.

Walz, 60, who has adopted a folksy demeanor on the campaign trail, was noticeably nervous and repeatedly misspoke as he wrung his hands, frantically took notes and cast his gaze around the CBS studio.

In response to the first question of the evening, Walz said he was concerned about “the expansion of Israel and its proxies” – rather than Iran and its proxies – when asked whether he would support a preemptive strike by Israel against Iran’s nuclear weapons program.

The Minnesota resident ultimately didn’t answer the question, and Vance, 40, said he would leave the final decision to the Israelis and still support them.

An hour later, Walz still appeared nervous, declaring, “I’ve become friends with school shooters” during an answer about gun control – even though he appeared to mean victims.

Vance responded kindly, expressing regret that the governor’s son witnessed a shooting at a community center in Minnesota.

The Democrat stumbled again, in perhaps the most replayed moment of the debate, when he was asked about new reports that he had lied about being in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square massacre in the spring of 1989.

“Look, I will be the first to tell you that I have put my heart into my community,” Walz said in a rambling initial response. “I tried to do my best, but I wasn’t perfect and sometimes I’m a dick, but it was always about the same people who elected me to Congress for 12 years.”

Co-host Margaret Brennan pressed: “Governor, to address this, the question was: Can you explain the discrepancy?”

Walz, visibly shocked and dismayed by the blunt response, reluctantly claimed, “I got there this summer and I got it wrong.”

Neither Vance nor the anchors addressed Walz’s alleged embellishment of his military exploits or his use of fertility treatments to help his wife conceive children, although Republicans have focused on both in recent weeks.

At one point, Walz praised Donald Trump’s vice president for giving viewers “the conversation they wanted to hear” about the future of the country, an apparent reference to the civility of the debate.

Vance, who spoke about his mother’s struggle with opioid addiction while pushing for stronger security at the U.S.-Mexico border and how his grandmother would sometimes turn off the heat in the winter to save money, benefited the most his kindness.

In one of his best-received answers, Vance recalled that someone “very close to my heart” had had an abortion in the past, confessing, “She felt like if she hadn’t had that abortion, she would have.” “destroyed her life because.” She was in an abusive relationship.”

Vance, who had been asked about Republican abortion policy, used the story to address the GOP’s proposals to make fertility treatments free and improve housing affordability.

When pressed by co-host Norah O’Donnell about appearing to distance himself from a proposed federal ban on abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, Vance pointed to the result of a 2023 referendum that favored abortion rights in his own state had.

“We had a referendum in 2023 and, by the way, the people of Ohio voted overwhelmingly against my position,” Vance said.

“And I think what I learned from that, Norah, is that we need to do a better job of regaining people’s trust. So many young women would like to start a family. So many young women also view an unplanned pregnancy as something that will destroy their livelihoods, their education and their relationships, and we need to regain people’s trust. And that’s why Donald Trump and I are committed to pursuing family-friendly policies, making child care and fertility treatments more accessible, because we have to do a better job at it, and that’s true leadership.”

The Republican entered the debate with a more negative rating from the public – with a 10.3% deficit in his own approval ratings, according to the RealClearPolitics average of recent polls, compared to Walz’s positive popularity rating of plus 2.5%.

It seemed to pay off handsomely, as venerable pollster Frank Luntz found that in a 14-member focus group of undecided voters in seven battleground states, 12 concluded that Vance had won the debate.

Other commentators gave the two men similar assessments.

“The Democrats are lucky. Presidential debates tend to be much more important than vice presidential debates,” wrote Dave Wasserman, senior editor and election analyst at the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.

“Walz looks rusty and nervous. “Maybe he should have done a few press interviews to better prepare,” tweeted Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin, pointing to Walz’s relatively sparse media engagements.

“After 15 minutes, it’s clear that Walz not giving interviews was a big mistake: He’s nervous and JD feels comfortable because he’s done a controversial interview a day since his election,” Breaking Points wrote. -Co-host Saagar Enjeti.

Veteran political commentator Chris Cillizza, formerly of CNN and MSNBC, wrote near the end: “Vance wins the debate. He is clearly the best debater of the four candidates running for president or vice president. His answer/pivot regarding abortion was masterful. Rolling was fine – but uneven. His response to the lie that he was in China during Tiananmen was TERRIBLE.”

Vance has conducted more than 60 interviews since becoming former President Trump’s vice president, compared to a handful from Walz.

The Republican maintained a poised demeanor in the rare moments when controversy arose in the debate, once speaking even with his microphone turned off as he questioned a moderator’s fact-checking claim.

When Brennan said that thousands of Haitian migrants awaiting asylum decisions while in Springfield, Ohio, “had legal status,” Vance was ready with his counterargument that they were being sent as part of an illegal expansion of “parole” by the Biden administration -Harris government have arrived.

“Since you’re fact-checking me, I think it’s important to say what’s actually going on,” Vance protested. “So there’s an application called the CBP One app that allows you to continue as an illegal immigrant, apply for asylum or parole, and get legal status with a Kamala Harris wand for open borders.”

Republicans have argued that the program goes beyond the government’s legal authority and that parole should not be granted categorically.

Vance, meanwhile, praised some of the Harris-Walz campaign’s policies, including expanding housing and affordability, but repeatedly stressed why Harris hasn’t already made good on her policy promises during her time in office.

“Some of these ideas we actually think are halfway decent, and others I don’t agree with,” Vance said.

“The most important thing here is that Kamala Harris is not running as a newcomer to politics. She is the incumbent vice president. If she wants to implement all of these measures to make housing more affordable, I invite her to use the office that the American people have already given her and not sit around, campaign and do nothing.”