Voters Disagree With Many of J.D. Vance’s Controversial Statements
On Monday, July 15, former President Donald Trump selected Ohio Senator J.D. Vance to be his running mate on the Republican Party ticket for the 2024 presidential election. A new Data for Progress poll tested likely voters’ opinions of Vance and whether they agree or disagree with his various controversial statements.
When asked if they have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of Vance, voters are split evenly — with 35% saying they have a favorable opinion and 35% saying they have an unfavorable opinion. Independents are less split, with 37% unfavorable and 31% favorable. Notably, 30% of voters haven't heard enough about Vance to offer an opinion.
The survey also asked voters if they agree or disagree with eight public statements Vance has made, particularly involving some of his more divisive policy stances. Of the eight statements tested, the one that receives the highest level of disagreement from voters is this: “I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine one way or the other.” A majority of voters (69%) disagree with Vance’s statement.
Majorities of voters also disagree with these statements:
“Trump should … fire every single mid-level bureaucrat, every civil servant in the administrative state.”
“Joe Biden wants to punish the people who didn’t vote for him and opening up the floodgates to the border is one way to do it.”
“The [2020] election was stolen from Trump.”
“We are effectively run in this country ... by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable too."
“Eliminating abortion is first and foremost about protecting the unborn.”
These statements are very unpopular among key constituencies. For example, 57% of women disagree with the statement that “eliminating abortion is first and foremost about protecting the unborn,” 70% of Black voters disagree with the statement that “the [2020] election was stolen from Trump,” and 69% of college-educated voters disagree with the statement that “Trump should … fire every single mid-level bureaucrat, every civil servant in the administrative state."
Vance’s statement that “the childless left has no physical commitment to the future of this country” is more divisive, with a plurality of voters (47%) disagreeing and 30% agreeing.
Voters only agree with one of the tested statements. A plurality of voters (48%) agree with Vance’s statement that “we should be much more aggressive in applying tariffs on a whole host of industries,” while 32% disagree.
This survey finds that 30% of voters haven't heard enough about the new Republican vice presidential nominee to say whether they have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of him, and those who have are split. When asked about a list of Vance’s public statements, voters register strong disagreement, especially regarding his stances on Ukraine and Trump firing civil servants.
Rob Todaro (@robtodaro) is the Communications Director at Data for Progress.
Cover photo attributed to Gage Skidmore.
Survey Methodology
From July 17 to 18, 2024, Data for Progress conducted a survey of 1,230 U.S. likely voters nationally using web panel respondents. The sample was weighted to be representative of likely voters by age, gender, education, race, geography, and 2020 recalled vote. The survey was conducted in English. The margin of error associated with the sample size is ±3percentage points. Results for subgroups of the sample are subject to increased margins of error. Partisanship reflectedin tabulations is based on self-identified party affiliation, not partisan registration. For more information please visit dataforprogress.org/our-methodology.