Do n’t pay attention to the next-day polling data on the VP debate. It does n’t matter whatsoever. Sure, it’s all you’ll discover over the next 48 days, but try to tune it out.
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There are two widely used methods for evaluating disputes. The first is favored by the major advertising: break down every Q&, A, show your visitors who “won” each face, score the events that caused positive/negative reactions, and then ask the audience who they liked the most.
This is the Frank Luntz strategy: get a studio market, attach’ em to a ring, and show the moments where the dial was moved up or down. Finally, whichever member got the most” taps” is declared the winner by Luntz.
It’s a good piece of TV because it’s incredibly emotionally charged and very demonstrative: you can watch all the emotionally charged snippets and rewrite to your heart’s content. It turns into a feature story that disguises as a media account, and producing feature reports is more enjoyable.  ,
Because they give more room for creativity, feature reports are frequently preferred by editors.
Here’s a sneak peek behind the velvet cords of the major advertising: challenging information is fricking depressing. ( A lot of work, also. Plenty of research and wearisome fact-checking — that’s no enjoyment! ) It’s everything you slave off on subordinates. After you’ve paid your dues, that’s when you’re ( finally! ) allowed to look into capabilities. Furthermore, if you’re a journalist who fancies himself a ( soon-to-be ) great American writer, feature writing lets you strut your wares and pretend you’re Hemingway, even if only for a little while.
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So that’s what the media will try to do: present the debate as a give-and-take prizefight, critique each individual moment, and then “score” the fight for the viewers ( hrough the prism of their own biases, of course ).  ,
But it’s probably the worst way to evaluate a conversation.
The Luntz strategy might have some merit if Election Day was 24 hrs after a discussion. In such an example, your next-day response would be appropriate. However, we are still more than a quarter apart from November 5!  ,
What matters is how you’ll feel therefore, and not how you’ll feel right now.
When we remember something ( or someone ), we do n’t recall it in its totality. Our memories do n’t work like computers, capturing everything and storing all the data. Rather, we tend to focus on the few components that attracted our attention, and then we build our own tale around them.
Your personal “feature writing” is the result of the thoughts in your head. Your most cherished memories are n’t hard media, they’re a rich tapestry of personal narrative, where YOU are the main character and ultimate arbiter of truth versus literature. Within our skulls, we’re all feature writers.
Most politicians fail at marketing because they do n’t understand how people actually think. Your marketing message will fail if you do n’t align your marketing message with how people process information. All you’re doing is marketing to yourself. And that’s probably the biggest marketing error of the past.  , Always remember: It’s not about you, it’s about your audience.
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What will the VP debate’s long-term conclusions be then?
The first lesson is that JD Vance is a smart, good-looking man with a nice beard and soft baby blues, he’s reasonable and grounded, and it speaks for Trump that he chose someone like him. Vance rocked his political jiu-jitsu and flipped’em on the mat, using their own momentum against them, even when the moderators tried to gang up on them.
That’s all positive for Team MAGA. ( It probably wo n’t move the needle much, since Trump’s brand has minimal elasticity, but it’s still a win for the GOP. )
The second takeaway is that Tim Walz is n’t ready for primetime.
If you’re a hardcore Democrat, Walz did n’t do anything that would dissuade you from supporting Harris, but if you were on the fence, he certainly did n’t win you over. His facial expressions seemed to be he was mugging the camera and auditioning for the role of a dopey 1988 sitcom father, which was just completely strange. He came across as a small-town mayor trying to play the part of a president, and it just was n’t within his skill set.
- He’s not someone you’d want answering the phone at 3 a. m.
- It’s almost like he’s cosplaying as a liberal’s interpretation of a conservative.
- He’s not particularly smooth, clever, glib, witty, or compassionate.
- Walz is boring. Not only is he white, he’s completely colorless.
- His “knucklehead” explanation of lying about China will raise more red flags, and I’m not just referring to China’s national flag. This is about to blow up in a massive way.
- His confused/constipated expression during split screens will serve as meme fodder until the end of time.
- And good Lord, flubbing a line about befriending school shooters is about as offensive as it gets!
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Related: What Pro Wrestling Can Teach Us About Politics
Last night was a victory for Trump: The Great Walz of China was overaged, underprepared, and full of cracks. But do n’t expect that to be the way that the media reports it. They wo n’t.  ,
Instead, you’ll probably have to wait’ til Nov. 6 to read about it.