Focus group not fond of Kamala Harris performance at debate

 Red States:

Feedback from a focus group that viewed Wednesday’s vice-presidential debate revealed that no amount of accusations of mansplaining or fixation on flying insects could hide the reality that Sen. Kamala Harris made a particularly poor showing. Participants in the group found Harris to be “abrasive and condescending” at different points during the debate while they viewed Vice President Mike Pence more favorably. 

Pollster Frank Luntz monitored the group of 15 voters. “The complaint about Kamala Harris was that she was abrasive and condescending,” he explained in an appearance on Fox News. The group consisted of voters from eight battleground states. 

When it came to rating Pence, participants were a little more complimentary.  “The complaint about Mike Pence was that he was too tired, but [he was] vice-presidential, or presidential,” Luntz pointed out. He then suggested that “if this is a battle over style and substance — which is often the case with undecided voters because they simply do not choose on policy, they also choose on persona — this was Mike Pence’s night.”

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 The focus group also communicated their points of frustration with both candidates. Luntz mentioned that voters were irritated with Pence for frequently talking for longer than his allotted time allowed. Conversely, he noted that “Harris’ reactions to Pence — the smiling, the smirking, the scowling,” made them “angrier” with her conduct. 

“Voters do not like it when candidates run long, and when they run long every time, they think that’s an example of being undisciplined and unfocused,” he acknowledged. “However, they were more agitated with Kamala’s presentation than they were with Mike Pence.”

Luntz concluded that “Mike Pence was the winner of tonight’s confrontation.” 

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I suspect that Pence went over his time when he was responding to the false allegations coming from Harris.  It was probably better to bust the time limit than to let a false charge go unchallenged.  I thought Pence gave a well-reasoned response to questions and was polite in doing so.