Importance of this Vice-Presidential Debate

In the wake of the White House’s ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, voters were given an important reminder that the vice president is not just a symbolic position, but an essential one. 

Recovering from his personal battle with COVID-19, President Donald Trump continues urging citizens to not let the coronavirus “dominate” them. Meanwhile, the nation’s battle against the coronavirus rages on, and both Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Kamala Harris exercised precautions as they debated each other behind their own transparent shields. 

Serving as a relief to most voters, the contrast in civility, articulation and professionalism compared to the first presidential debate. While jabs were traded and interruptions were made, there was a noticeable sense of mutual respect as well as a lack of straightforward responses and polarizing facts about both presidential candidates’ plans, records and state of affairs in the U.S.

Due to the level of uncertainty throughout the nation as well as the fact that whoever is elected president will officially become the oldest elected president in U.S. history, , the country needs a dependable substitute for commander-in-chief in a time of such uncertainty if something tragic or unforeseen should occur. 

Broadcast live on ABC News, MSNBC, CNN, FOX News and others, the 90-minute debate started at 9 p.m. ET. According to Nielsen, it only drew in 21.3 million views, beaten out by the 2016 vice presidential debate between Indiana Gov. Mike Pence and Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, which attracted 37.1 million views. Based on Nielsen’s projected total number of views, this debate is the least watched vice presidential debate in history. 

Strength was undoubtedly displayed by both candidates. However, the fly that landed on the vice president’s head was the unquestionable star of the show. Harris received a great deal of criticism regarding her vacuous responses on Supreme Court expansion and the Biden Plan. 

Asked by the USA TODAY moderator about filling the Supreme Court seat after the recent death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Harris dodged the question with a “nothing answer.”

Pence pressed Harris, saying, “your party is actually advocating adding seats to the Supreme Court, which has had nine seats for 150 years. … Now, you have refused to answer the question. Joe Biden has refused to answer the question. So I think the American people would really like to know if Judge Amy Coney Barrett is confirmed to the Supreme Court of the United States, are you and Joe Biden, if somehow you win this election, going to pack the Supreme Court to get your way?”

Harris responded without any definite answer, but rather a quote from Abraham Lincoln. The quote comes from when the president was presented an opportunity to replace the newly deceased Justice Roger Taney, just 27 days before the election of 1864: “the American people deserve to make the decision about who will be the next President of the United States, and then that person can select who will serve for a lifetime on the highest court of our land.” 

Facing consistent scrutiny since the former vice president’s distasteful debate with President Trump, the Biden Plan is a nationwide environmental action plan with similarities to Alexandria Ocasio Cortez’ overly ambitious Green New Deal from 2019. The plan’s primary goal is to achieve net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases by the year 2050.

This is one of many goals outlined in the Green New Deal, even though Biden declared emphatically, “I don’t support the Green New Deal” at the first presidential debate. Muddying the waters even more, Biden’s environmental plan refers to the Green New Deal as a “crucial framework.”

The key difference is that AOC’s plan calls for major social reform including universal jobs and health care, while Biden’s plan is reserved to climate action. Either way, the structural changes needed to bring either plan’s environmental goals to fruition is set to cost upwards of $93 trillion, according to a study released by The Competitive Enterprise Institute and Power the Future.

Pence performed well on the economy, given the current state of the economy. Ensuring Americans that the president’s economic maneuvers have proven beneficial, Pence pointed to the rise in wages, saying, “the average household for a family of four increased by $4,000 following President Trump’s tax cuts.” Harris capitalized by claiming, “Joe Biden will not raise taxes on anybody who makes less than $400,000 a year.” Following some awkward interruptions from Pence, Harris began attacking the president’s economy, saying, “they rode the coattails of Joe Biden’s success for the economy they had at the start of their term.” 

She then went in on the vice president for the administration’s opposition to the Affordable Care Act, claiming, “if you have a pre-existing condition, heart disease, diabetes, breast cancer, they’re coming for you.” This was ultimately Harris’ best and most memorable line of the night.