Vance looked smooth as silk as he corrected the radical and goofy impression he created of himself in recent months. But Walz looked earnest, like a regular guy struggling for the right answer and committed to the truth and the facts.

A CNN/SSRS poll found that around the same amount of debate-watchers felt Vance or Walz “won,” and that they felt more favorable about both after the debate, but that the event mostly did not impact people’s choices of who to vote for.