Wednesday’s historic vice presidential debate between Mike Pence and Kamala Harris at the University of Utah was remarkable if for only being the polar opposite of last week’s chaotic, interruption-filled presidential debate.
“It almost felt like a throwback to the pre-Trump normal period of politics,” says McKay Coppins, a writer for The Atlantic. "You had two candidates who spoke in complete sentences. Who, for the most part, abided by the rules and didn’t cut each other off that much.
“They were both able to articulate their viewpoints, their campaign messages and challenge each other,” he added.
Coppins joined the “Utah Politics” podcast on Thursday to reflect on what kind of impact the debate might make on the presidential race during the stretch run. Spoiler alert: not much.
“The kind of things that political observers say about vice presidential debates is they’re the definition of low impact events. They almost never move voters,” Coppins said.
Coppins also discussed the questions both Pence and Harris refused to answer, why he believes the effort to confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court could reset the presidential race before Election Day, and why he might be the reason Trump is in the White House.
Listen to the full debate below.
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