JD Vance unlikely to influence the election, his looks could play an important role: Presidential Historians

Republican Party’s official vice-presidential nominee and Donald Trump’s running mate JD Vance was picked by Trump during the ongoing National Convention of the party. The Senator from Ohio was picked ahead of some long-time supporters of Trump. The 39-year -old Senator will be one of the youngest to serve as the VP of the US, if he were to win the election.

Presidential historians are debating whether running mates of the presidential nominees have any effect on the presidential election and interestingly what role does a harmless beard play in the US electoral politics. Vance is from Ohio and the state has been traditional supporters of the Republican party.

JD Vance:

Trump’s choice has been unique. Many presidential nominees have many political factors they consider before picking their running mate. Most importantly, they target the swing states. Picking a candidate from one of these swing states may help them secure the votes from these states. In this regard, picking Vance from Ohio came as a surprise to many, especially when the state is fully behind the Republicans.


A YouGov survey conducted on Monday found that only 12% of the respondents supported Vance, 9% said that he was the worst choice and 37% of them said they weren’t sure.

Do Vice-Presidential nominees influence the elections?
Allan Lichtman who is a presidential historian said that the VPs have no major influence on the presidential elections. He has been correctly predicting the results of the presidential elections since 1984 with the exception of the year 2000. He cited the example of Bill Clinton who picked Al Gore as his running mate. Many of the analysts back then had said that Al Gore would sink the Clinton campaign, but he went on to win by a large margin.

Beard factor:

Thomas Whalen, another presidential historian opined that the beard factor may favor Vance. Traditionally, presidents and vice-presidents have been clean shaven. The last VP with a beard was Schuyler Colfax (1869-73). Larry Cook who is an author and presidential historian also said that Beards have emerged as a trend in recent times and this may work in Vance’s favor.

FAQs

Did the selection of Kamala Harris as Joe Biden’s running mate in 2020 help swing the votes in the party’s favor?
The VP is from the state of California. The state has always supported the Democrats. It did not swing the votes in favor of the party which was anyways winning.

Does the physical appearances of the president and the vice-president to the electorate?
This may be one of the factors considered by the electorate. There are other factors including their policies, winnability and other factors.