Ohio Senator J.D. Vance wasn't most Republicans' top pick as Donald Trump's vice presidential running mate — but now that he has been selected, most consider him a good choice, the latest Economist/YouGov Poll finds. Trump announced Vance as his running mate as the Republican National Convention began in Milwaukee.
A June survey found that only 3% of Republicans would choose Vance as their top choice for Trump's running mate, out of 16 names offered. Two in five Republicans said they weren't sure whether he'd be a good pick. Other surveys about potential Republican vice presidential candidates showed Vance performing similarly relative to other options.
Since Vance's selection, however, Republicans have rallied around him. Now 75% of Republicans say Vance is a good choice, including 50% who say the choice is very good. Just 7% consider him a bad choice, and 18% aren't sure. Republicans who identify as MAGA are even more likely to say he's a very good choice.
Opinions on Vance have polarized since he became the Republican vice presidential candidate. In the past three weeks, the share of Republicans with a very or somewhat favorable opinion of him rose 36 percentage points, to 75% from 39%. Meanwhile, the share of Democrats with an unfavorable opinion increased 29 points, to 74% from 45%. Within each party, the share saying they don't know fell dramatically, from roughly half to around one in five. Americans overall are now somewhat more likely to have an unfavorable (42%) than favorable opinion (34%) of Vance; 23% don’t know. Less than a week earlier, 33% had no opinion of him.
72% of Republicans describe Vance as a conservative, which is roughly as many as describe Trump this way (74%). However, fewer Republicans describe Vance than Trump as "very conservative" (18% vs. 27%).
Far more Republicans expect Vance will help (58%) rather than hurt (3%) Trump's chances of winning the election. Americans overall are somewhat less likely to be bullish on Vance's effect: 31% think he will help Trump, 10% think he will hurt, and 35% think he will make no difference.
Just 29% of Americans — but 61% of Republicans — think Vance is qualified to be president. MAGA Republicans (71%) are far more likely than non-MAGA Republicans (46%) to think he's qualified.
— Carl Bialik and David Montgomery contributed to this article
See the toplines and crosstabs from the Economist/YouGov poll conducted on July 21 - 23, 2024 among 1,605 U.S. adult citizens.
Methodology: Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel using sample matching. A random sample (stratified by gender, age, race, education, geographic region, and voter registration) was selected from the 2019 American Community Survey. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given prior to November 1, 2022, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (33% Democratic, 31% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 3%.
Image: Getty
