Analysis reveals how 'historically unpopular' Vance is only making things worse for Trump

13 August 2024

An August 6 headline in The Independent read, "No, JD Vance Is Not As Bad of a Running Mate As Sarah Palin — He's Worse." And according to many polls, Donald Trump's 2024 running mate is even more unpopular than widely criticized GOP presidential running mates of the past — including Palin and Dan Quayle.

CNN's Harry Enten said of Sen. Vance, "He is historically unpopular, even more so than VP nominees who, of course, went on to infamy."

In his August 13 column, MSNBC's Hayes Brown notes that a presidential running mate is "traditionally an attack dog for the nominee."

Vance, Brown observes, is happy to do the "heavy lifting" for GOP nominee Donald Trump and be the former president's "attack dog" — only he's so widely unpopular that he defeats the purpose.

"At some point, if Vance is perceived as doing most of the heavy lifting for the campaign," Brown argues, "that could become a major hindrance to Trump's chances this fall…. It doesn't help that Vance isn't exactly Mr. Popular these days."

For weeks, Vance has been bombarded with scathing criticism in response to comments that he made back in 2021 and 2022. The "Hillbilly Elegy" author repeatedly attacked "childless cat ladies" and "childless Democrats," called for Americans who don't have biological children to be "punished" via higher taxes, and even described Americans who decided against having children as "sociopathic."

"Tellingly, when you look at FiveThirtyEight's polling aggregate," Brown observes, "Vance's unfavorable ratings are higher than Trump's — which is really saying something."

Hayes Brown's full MSNBC column is available at this link.

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