During the debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, the candidates presented us with contrasting visions for America but did not give us details on what those visions were. Governor Tim Walz and Senator JD Vance agreed on a lot more and presented us with a much more clear, and peaceful vision.

The second debate was much more cordial, with both candidates shaking hands and introducing their wives afterward. The moderators were also more impartial since they had a QR code to fact-check the candidates, versus the first debate, where it was easy to claim that the moderators seemed biased.

The Trump Vance ticket’s strongest debate topics from the debates seemed to be immigration and the economy, and they both focused on those, as well as the Biden-Harris administration’s record. On the other hand, the Harris Walz ticket’s strongest topics were abortion and democracy (January 6th), and they mostly focused on the economy and democracy. Harris focused her closing statement on her plan for an “opportunity economy,” while Walz focused his on Trump and how the Harris campaign is about hope and opportunity. Both Vance and Trump focused their closing statements on the fact that Harris is a part of the current administration, and Vance also included the American Dream. 

In the first debate, Trump’s weakest moments were when he debated his rally sizes, threw his running mate under the bus on remarks he made on abortion, and said that he had “concepts of a plan” on the economy. His running mate, on the other hand, had his weakest moments when he had to defend Trump’s statements, as well as his actions after the previous election. Though Vance did the best job he could have when answering a question about January 6th, he very obviously deflected when he said he wanted to focus on “the future.” Harris’s weakest moments were delivering an unclear answer when she was asked about changing her views on many issues and not having a clear attack on abortion. Meanwhile, Walz had one of his weakest moments when he said he was “friends with school shooters,” when speaking on gun violence.

Trump and Harris’s debate had many memorable moments such as when Harris baited Trump into talking about his rally sizes, and when Trump claimed that Haitian immigrants are eating people’s dogs in Springfield, Ohio. The Walz and Vance debate had less eye-catching moments, but there were a few such as when Walz was asked about Tiananmen Square and lying about being there, and when Walz said that “January 6th was not Facebook ads.”

Harris’s biggest debating strength was rebuttals. Trump’s strength was and always has been memorable one-liners that people remember after the debate. Vance strengthened the Republican ticket by delivering clear concise answers that made his opponent look flustered. Walz countered Vance by being more relatable and shared many anecdotes, one of which, about how his son saw a shooter, even made Vance share his sympathy. 

Both tickets were balanced. Where Trump was flustered and deflecting, Vance was cool, collected and concise. Where Harris was detached, but eloquent, Walz was relatable and put things in simple terms. Both Vance and Walz made their running mates seem like moderates.