JD Vance And Tim Walz's Body Language At The 2024 Vice Presidential Debate Has Everyone Saying The Same Thing

The two 2024 presidential debates — the first between former president Donald Trump and President Joe Biden, the second between Trump and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris — were politically momentous. Biden's performance was so disastrous that senior Democrats began to call for him to drop out of the race amid dire approval ratings, and he finally did on July 21. Vice President Harris emerged as the replacement Democratic nominee and enjoyed a bump in the polls that closed the gap between her and her opponent. The first presidential debate between Harris and Trump — there is unlikely to be another — took place on September 10. In the days that followed, opinion polls showed Kamala had gained a narrow lead over Trump.

Today, the race for the Oval Office is neck and neck, with both the Democrats and Republicans looking to score decisive wins to help move the needle in their favor. On October 1, swathes of the American electorate turned toward the vice presidential debate between Trump's running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, and Harris' pick, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. However, the event was underwhelming to many, with The Guardian columnist Moustafa Bayoumi calling it "a mostly civil encounter with no overwhelming winner." In the absence of killer lines, both social media users and analysts dug deeper to see what the body language of the two men had to say about the balance of power. And according to most, Vance had the better night.

Tim Walz entered the vice presidential race at a moment of great excitement for the Democrats. Their presidential nominee, Kamala Harris, was still riding a wave of appreciation. People were relieved at the emergence of a candidate who seemed to have a chance of beating Donald Trump and taking the Oval Office. As seen on YouTube, Walz was unveiled in front of a cheering audience of thousands in Philadelphia on August 6, where he condemned JD Vance's "dangerous and backward agenda" and said he "can't wait to debate the guy."

But after being chosen as Harris' running mate, Walz reportedly admitted to the vice president that he was poor at debates. And by the time of the vice presidential debate on October 1, many took to social media to note that his former confidence appeared to have deserted him. In a piece for The Conversation, body language expert Patrick Stewart said Walz attempted to settle his nerves with a "reward smile," which regulates negative emotions, such as his misgivings about his debate abilities. Walz nevertheless seemed unnerved by an opening question about war in the Middle East.

Arguably, in once instance Walz came across as dishonest. When pressed by moderator Margaret Brennan on a false claim he had made about being in Hong Kong in 1989, he blushed visibly as he admitted that he had "misspoke." However, Stewart noted that though Walz may have been caught telling an untruth, blushing involuntarily may in fact have the effect of making him appear more honest and genuine to audiences.

Though JD Vance has achieved a great deal despite a horrific upbringing and is a popular running mate among much of Donald Trump's MAGA base, he hasn't had an easy vice presidential campaign so far. The attack line put forward by the Democrats — that the Republicans, and Vance in particular, are "weird" — has proven to be effective as viral messaging. His image has also been tarnished by an obscure rumor that he performed a sex act with a couch and by his misstep in deriding "childless cat ladies," which drew the ire of none other than pop superstar Taylor Swift. At times, even Republicans have worried that Vance's name on the Trump ticket could do the campaign more harm than good.

But Vance's performance in the vice presidential debate has drawn a certain amount of praise, with even the left-leaning Guardian admitting that the Ohioan had taken the upper hand. "Vance was nimble, if smarmy, showing his background as a debater and a lawyer," wrote analyst Ben Davis, who lamented that Vance's cool allowed him to promote extremist policies in a way that made them "sound almost moderate and reasonable."

In his Conversation piece, Patrick Stewart noted that Vance was considerably less expressive and appeared calm throughout, giving little away in terms of nerves and appearing to be the more settled of the two men. Stewart highlighted that the few times Vance was expressive, he was smiling, indicating that he was "pleased with himself" for his performance. However, Stewart also claimed that this lack of expressiveness could prevent voters from connecting with him as a public figure.