Walz thanked Vance for his compassion during the exchange
Voters react to interaction between Walz and Vance on witnessing shooting: 'Christ have mercy'
A focus group of voters share their reactions to a brief exchange between JD Vance and Tim Walz after the latter shared one of his children witnessed a shooting during Tuesday night's CBS News Vice Presidential Debate. (Credit: CBS)
Voters watching Tuesday’s debate between Ohio Sen. JD Vance and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz had a largely positive response to an exchange between the two vice presidential candidates on shootings.
"I got a 17-year-old, and he witnessed a shooting at a community center playing volleyball. Those things don’t leave you," Walz said, eliciting a response of "awful" from Vance.
The answer from Walz on shootings began a portion of largely positive reactions from viewers of the debate as Walz explained his stance on gun safety measures, according to Fox News dials of Republican, Democratic and Independent voters that measured their responses to the candidates answers in real time.
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Republican vice presidential candidate, Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), and Democratic vice presidential candidate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, participated in a debate at the CBS Broadcast Center on Oct. 1, 2024 in New York City. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
"I’m a hunter. I own firearms. The vice president is — we understand that the Second Amendment is there, but our first responsibility is to our kids to figure this out," Walz said, eliciting an increasingly positive response from Independent and Democratic voters while Republicans remained mostly in the middle.
All three groups of voters showed an increasingly positive response to Walz's remarks as he acknowledged Vance in a rare bipartisan moment.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz baffled the internet on Tuesday when he accidentally declared he has "become friends with school shooters" during the CBS News Vice Presidential Debate against Sen. JD Vance. (Getty Images)
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"I 100% believe that Sen. Vance hates it when these kids… it’s abhorrent, and it breaks your heart. I agree with that, but that’s not far enough when we know there’s things that work," Walz said.
Independent and Republican voters also started to have a positive response when Vance was given the opportunity to respond to Walz’s remarks, with the Ohio senator calling it "awful" that the Minnesota governor’s son witnessed a shooting.
Voters watching Tuesday’s debate between Ohio Sen. JD Vance and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz had a largely positive response to an exchange between the two vice presidential candidates on shootings. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
"Tim, first of all, I didn’t know that your 17-year-old witnessed a shooting, and I’m sorry about that. Christ have mercy," Vance said, receiving a heartfelt thank you from Walz while garnering a positive response from voters.
Michael Lee is a writer for Fox News. Prior to joining Fox News, Michael worked for the Washington Examiner, Bongino.com, and Unbiased America. He has covered politics for more than eight years.
