Vance-Walz vice-presidential debate could change the course of the election, polls show

As Republicans and Democrats gear up for today’s vice presidential debate, exclusive polling shows that this is an event that has the potential to change everything.

Two-thirds of Democrats believe the vice-presidential candidate has a significant impact on the overall presidential ticket, according to polling from Prolific for The Independent.

Republican vice-presidential nominee JD Vance is set to debate Democratic VP pick Tim Walz today, Tuesday, October 1 at 9pm ET on CBS.

For live updates ahead of the debate, click here.

Three out of four Americans (75 per cent) are planning to watch today’s VP debate, according to the poll, which surveyed a nationally representative sample of 2,000 participants on the Prolific platform on September 22.

Vance has said he “doesn’t have to prepare that much” for his first head-to-head — despite reports to the contrary that he has been preparing with Minnesota GOP Representative Tom Emmer, as a stand-in for Walz’s “folksy demeanor”.

Though the VP debate might appear to live in the shadow of last month’s Trump-Harris match-up, the polls suggest that, for many voters, the event will be far from insignificant.

As to whether debates themselves have a significant impact on how voters lean, our poll shows that a third (30 per cent) of viewers had a more positive opinion of Kamala Harris following the presidential debate in September.

This includes 21 per cent of independent voters, who constitute a crucial factor in the outcome of the election.

For Donald Trump, overall most respondents said their opinion had stayed the same, or worsened (14 per cent), including independents.

Just over half of Americans (56 per cent) believe that the vice-presidential candidate has a significant