Trump Insists He Doesn’t Regret Picking Vance, Even as Surveys Show He’s Unpopular
While most new vice presidential nominees enjoy a post-convention bump in approval, Vance ratings are underwater.
President Trump’s campaign insists that he doesn’t regret his vice presidential pick, Senator Vance, even as polls suggest he is the least popular new vice presidential nominee in recent history.
After a party’s convention, the party’s nominee and their newly announced running mate enjoy what’s called a “convention bump,” a modest boost in the candidate’s polling numbers. However, it doesn’t appear the Trump campaign is getting that with their vice presidential nominee.
A NPR/PBS News/Marist National Poll found that Mr. Vance is viewed favorably by just 28 percent of respondents and viewed unfavorably by 31 percent with 41 percent unfamiliar with him or having no opinion.
The poll of 1,309 Americans, conducted on July 22, also found that 59 percent of Republican men and 53 percent of Republican women viewed him favorably.
An earlier survey by Economist and YouGov, conducted from July 13 to July 16 — Mr. Vance was announced as the vice presidential pick on July 15 — found that only 22 percent of respondents viewed him favorably while 31 percent viewed him unfavorably. Nearly half of 1,582 Americans who responded to the poll, 48 percent, had no opinion about Mr. Vance.
CNN also reports that Mr. Vance’s unpopularity is unique among non-incumbent vice presidential picks since 2000, with the average net favorability rating of a new vice presidential pick post-convention being plus 19 points. Mr. Vance’s approval ratings, however, are underwater.
Mr. Vance’s lackluster popularity is also reflected in his relatively poor performance in his 2022 Senate election. While Mr. Vance won the election, he ran about 10 points behind the state’s Republican governor, Mike DeWine, receiving just 53 percent support to Mr. DeWine’s 63 percent.
Mr. Vance’s unpopularity has also prompted Trump’s campaign to deny any suggestion that Trump regrets picking Mr. Vance as his vice presidential nominee.
“President Trump is thrilled with the choice he made with Senator Vance, and they are the perfect team to take back the White House,” a Trump campaign spokesman, Steven Cheung, told Newsweek on the topic.
Mr. Cheung added that “any reporting to the contrary is nothing but ridiculous fake news from either non-existent sources or individuals who have no idea what’s going on.”
