The Vice Presidential Debate

Data gathered by Kendall Parrish and Raine T. Riley

Blog written by Raine T. Riley, October 11, 2020

Wednesday, October 7 marked the one and only vice-presidential debate scheduled for this election year. Vice President Mike Pence and Senator Kamala Harris went head-to-head behind plexiglass dividers to speak about current affairs and further persuade the American public to vote for their running mates in the Presidential election this November. The debate garnered a lot of attention across the country on Wednesday, being the topic of over 800k posts across 12 media platforms. This week, we were able to examine the conversations and media trends before, during, and after the debate.

People were certainly more engaged online during the debate than we saw before or after. When the debate began, the conversation across media platforms increased by approximately 850% and then decreased by over 60% once the debate ended. The highest peak of conversation hit between 9:00 and 10:00 p.m. with 210k Tweets alone, and between 10:00 and 11:00 p.m. with over 217k Tweets alone. The overall sentiment prior to the debate was positive, with people supporting their preferred candidates, as well as sharing general information on where to find the debate. During, the sentiment shifted to lean more negative with comments from both right- and left-wing viewers. Following the debate, most posts leaned towards “neutral” (44%) followed by 35% positive and 21% negative.

Interestingly, the demographics of people engaging in conversations about the debate that we examined shifted depending on the time of analysis. The overwhelming demographic discussing the debate prior to its start were people between the ages of 45 and 54. During the debate, however, most conversations were led by those between the ages of 25 and 34. Following the debate, the head demographic shifted back to that of people between the ages of 45 and 54. Most people engaging with conversations about the debate identified as female.

Prior to the debate, people across all platforms discussed where to watch the debate, sharing links to online streams. Many people shared who they thought would “win” the debate, others simply shared their preconceived notions of each candidate. Conversations about Senator Harris were prominent, some supporting and commending her for her poise while others claiming that she slept her way to the top, calling her “nasty” and “fake.” Susan Page, moderator of the debate, was a topic of discussion as people were concerned about her potential biases.

During the debate, conversations were centered around each candidate’s ability to answer questions as both candidates were accused of skirting questions. Senator Kamala Harris got a lot of support for saying “Mr. Vice President, I’m speaking” when Vice President Pence interrupted her. Vice President Mike Pence received kudos for telling Senator Harris to “stop playing politics with people’s lives” when she posited that she would not take a COVID-19 vaccine if it was solely endorsed by President Donald Trump. Conversations following the debate mostly focused on who “won” the debate and general recaps of the debate itself. A lot of the conversations we saw claimed Vice President Mike Pence as the “winner” of the debate.

A less serious but prominent conversation during the debate across all media platforms was that of a fly that landed on Vice President Pence’s head and stayed there for a couple of minutes during the debate. The fly that landed on his hair got so much attention that “fly” ended up being one of the top words of the night. Since then, many videos and memes have made their way across the internet regarding the fly – some poking fun at or criticizing the Vice President, others simply personifying the fly.

While conversations across media platforms surrounding the vice-presidential debate were somewhat stratified between Republican and Democrat, it is encouraging to see that people care enough to pay attention to the issues and will hopefully vote in whatever manner they deem best by election day. In the days following the vice-presidential debate, it has come to light that there may not be another debate at all prior to the election due to recent COVID-19 outbreaks among politicians and President Donald Trump’s refusal to engage in a virtual debate. It is possible that the vice-presidential debate between Vice President Pence and Senator Harris was the last time before November 3 that Democrats and Republicans will be seen in the same place talking about the issues facing the United States.