Half-Empty Auditorium Watches Kaine and Pence Square Off

Heading into Tuesday’s vice presidential debate, pundits predicted a smaller viewership and relatively boring performance from Republican Mike Pence and Democrat Tim Kaine.

At Harvard, the Institute of Politics’ half-empty watch party and students’ subdued reactions to the debate showed that was the case.

Students watch the 2016 Vice Presidential debate from Harvard’s Institute of Politics on Tuesday night. By Jessica M. Wang

Hundreds of students turned out to watch last week’s highly anticipated first presidential debate of the cycle, with many undergraduates praising Democrat Hillary R. Clinton’s performance. But this time around, fewer groups hosted watch parties and the IOP’s John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum was left half-empty.

Those seats that were taken were largely filled by members of the Harvard College Democrats and the Harvard Republican Club, Government concentrators, and Kennedy School students.

While both running mates—Pence, who serves as governor of Indiana, and Kaine who is a senator from Virginia—are generally considered friendlier figures than the presidential candidates at the top of either ticket, Tuesday’s debate grew heated as both candidates interrupted each other numerous times. At one point, debate moderator and CBS News anchor Elaine Quijano had to implore both candidates to let each other speak.

“Senator Kaine and Governor Pence, please,” Quijano said, prompting widespread laughter at the watch party.

In contrast to last Monday’s Trump-Clinton debate, the vice presidential debate took the form of a less formal round table format, allowing for direct dialogue—and verbal disputes. A few moments of the debate spurred particularly spirited reactions from the audience.

Early in the debate, Quijano asked Pence about Trump’s temperament and mentioned Pence’s onetime praise of his running mate as “thoughtful, compassionate, and steady” to vigorous audience laughter. The crowd reacted similarly later in the evening at Pence’s mention of Trump’s proposed wall between the U.S. and Mexico.

Conversely, much of the crowd applauded when Kaine criticized Pence’s support of Trump, saying he could not “[believe] that Governor Pence can support the insult driven campaign that Trump has run.”

“Get ‘em, Tim!” yelled a voice from the audience when Kaine lambasted Trump’s lackadaisical attitude towards nuclear proliferation.

Overall, the handful of attendees interviewed said they were impressed with both candidates’ knowledge of policy but did not believe the debate would prove consequential for either campaign.

W. Tanner Gildea ’19, communications director for the Harvard College Democrats, said that “both candidates seemed to point out policy positions” in great detail.