Poll: Most Voters Think VP Debate Will Influence Votes

While Indiana Gov. Mike Pence and Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine lock horns in their vice presidential debate tonight, most voters believe the debate will influence their vote, according to a poll conducted by Rasmussen Reports.

Here are the results:

Voters who will watch the debate:

• Somewhat likely: 78 percent;
• Very likely: 52 percent;
• Unlikely: 20 percent;
• Not at all likely: 8 percent.

Most respondents — 66 percent — believe that the performance of the vice-presidential candidates is important for the November elections.

• Very important: 27 percent;
• Not important: 32 percent;
• Not at all important: 11 percent.

In the previous vice presidential debate poll in 2012, only 18 percent said the debate between Joe Biden and Paul Ryan was very important to their vote.

In 2008, 34 percent thought that the debate between Biden and Sarah Palin would influence their vote.

Ahead of the first presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump last week, 63 percent voters said the debate was important to their vote, which included 28 percent who believed it to be very important.

The survey, which was conducted on Oct. 2-3, interviewed 1,000 likely voters. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points.

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