US Vice President Candidate Debates: Mutual Arguments, Vance And Walz Show Warmth At The End

US Vice President J.D Vance's Debate with Team Walz. (Capture of CBS News YouTube channel)

JAKARTA - Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz and Republican rival JD Vance showed warmth in closing the debate, after arguing in a debate held by CBS News in New York on Tuesday night.

The two rivals, who attacked each other hard on campaign lines, mostly used friendly tones.

The most tense exchange of opinion comes ahead of the end of the debate, when Vance - who said he would not vote to pass the 2020 election results - avoided the question of whether he would challenge this year's vote if Trump lost.

Walz responded by blaming Trump's false claims about election fraud for fueling the crowd on January 6, 2021, attacking the US Capitol Building in a failed attempt to prevent certification of Joe Biden's 2020 election.

"He still said he didn't lose the election," Walz said, before turning to Vance.

"Has he lost the 2020 election?" he continued.

Vance again avoided the question, instead accusing Harris of online censorship of the opposite point of view.

"That is a very unreasonable answer," Walz said.

Both Walz (60) who are both Minnesota Governor and Vance (40) who are conservative senators from Ohio, both describe themselves as two sons of American heart in the equator with very contradictory views on issues gripping the country.

The two rivals are each seeking to deliver a crushing blow to the final remaining debate before the presidential election on November 5, debating the Middle East crisis, immigration, taxes, abortion, climate change, and the economy.

But overall the two men appeared to intend to show "the typical Good of theANG," thanking each other even as they attacked their respective partners in the role of traditional strikers for vice president candidates.

Vance questioned why Harris had not done more to tackle inflation, immigration, and the economy while serving in President Joe Biden's administration, by launching a consistent attack that Donald Trump failed to deliver during a debate with Kamala Harris last month.

"If Kamala Harris has a great plan to address middle-class issues, then she should do it now - not when asking for promotions, but in the work the American people gave her three and a half years ago," Vance said.

Walz himself described Trump as an unstable leader who prioritized billionaires and reversed Vance's criticism of immigration issues, attacking Trump for pressuring Republicans in Congress to overturn the bipartisan border security bill earlier this year.

"Most of us want to finish this," Walz said of immigration.

"Donald Trump has four years to do this, and he promised you Americans how easy it is."

The debate at the CBS Broadcast Center in New York began with an escalating crisis in the Middle East, after Israel resumed its attack on southern Lebanon on Tuesday and Iran launched a missile strike against Israel.

Walz said Trump was too "uncertain" and sympathetic to strong people to be trusted to deal with the growing conflict. Vance stressed that Trump had made the world safer during his tenure.

Asked if he would support a preliminary attack on Iran by Israel, Vance said he would bow to Israeli judgment, while Walz did not answer the question directly.

Political analysts say the vice president's debate in general does not change the election results. However, even a slight change in public opinion can prove decisive with competition that is on the brink five weeks before Election Day.

Although Vance has written "Hillbilly Elegy," a popular 2016 memoir, US voters have negative views on him, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll, with 51 percent of registered voters saying they looked at him not good, compared to 39 percent who looked at him well.

Meanwhile, Walz is seen as well as 44 percent of registered voters, with 43 percent reporting bad views in September 20-23 polls.

Although Harris excels in a national poll, most surveys show voters are still divided equally in seven states that will determine the election results in November.

Interestingly, Walz and Vance are still warm despite participating in the contestation of the US Presidential Election. The two shook hands when they started the debate. After the debate ended, the two of them shook hands again.

This was followed by another moment of warmth, when the wife of the two candidates, Usha Chilukuri Vance and Gwen Walz climbed the debate stage. After greeting their respective partners, the two candidates then introduced each other and the four then talked warmly before leaving the stage and greeted the moderators.