How much can the upcoming vice presidential debate impact the election?

On Tuesday, two midwesterners will face off in the only vice presidential debate of the election.

Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance (R) and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) will share the stage, exactly five weeks from Election Day, in a race that's very close.

Both candidates will likely lean on their small-town, middle-of-America credentials, Vance from Middletown, Ohio, and Walz, who grew up in Nebraska.

But they have very different ideas about what America should look like. From the border crisis, to abortion, and of course, gun laws.

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How much does it matter?

In a race where so much of the polling is within the margin of error — it seems as though any one thing could affect the outcome of the 2024 Presidential election.

But have Vice Presidential Debates made a difference in past races?

NPR's senior White House Correspondent Tamara Keith dug into that existential... and political question.

Keith says that vice presidential debates are often forgettable, but the one in 1988 is seared in American popular culture.

Judy Woodruff of PBS did the introductions for Senator Dan Quayle, the Republican nominee, and Senator Lloyd Bentsen, the Democratic nominee.

Benson was in his late sixties while Quayle was only 41, and that dynamic led to one of the most iconic lines in debate history, as Quayle compared himself to John F. Kennedy, and Lloyd Bentsen replied:

"I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy."

It was a huge moment in the debate. But it ultimately had no real impact on the outcome of