JD Vance ‘Mystifying’ Behavior Jeopardizing Swing Voters: Polling Expert

Donald Trump’s running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, is jeopardizing swing votes with his “mystifying” behavior, according to a polling expert.

On an episode of Dan Pfeiffer’s Pollercoaster, hosted on the podcast Pod Save America, polling expert Celinda Lake discussed where former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris stand in swing states.

Pod Save America is a Crooked Media podcast hosted by former aides of former President Barack Obama, Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, Dan Pfeiffer and Tommy Vietor. Celinda Lake is the president of Lake Research Partners, a Democratic polling firm.

Vance has been a fixture in headlines and faced continued backlash for his comments and views of women since he was tapped to join Trump on the Republican Party ticket.

Remarks made by Vance in 2021 while he was running for Senate resurfaced after he was reveled as Trump’s running mate. In a Fox News interview, Vance said: “We are effectively run in this country via the Democrats,” 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.”

Vance has since described this as a “sarcastic comment” that was “willfully misinterpreted” by the Democrats. He also said that he regrets “that a lot of people took it the wrong way.”

The Ohio Senator has also faced backlash for remarks he made about professional women, and was recently booed as he took the podium to deliver a speech to the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF).

He also made an error at a speech at a rally in Pennsylvania. Asked by a reporter about Donald Trump’s visit to Arlington Cemetery to mark the third anniversary of the Abbey Gate bombing outside Kabul’s International Airport, where 13 American soldiers died, Vance confused “Abbey Gate” with “Abbey Road,” the name of the album by The Beatles.

On the Pod Save America episode, Lake spoke about Minnesota Governor and Vice President Kamala Harris’ VP pick, Tim Walz. She described him as a “huge advantage,” stating: “Governor Walz really brings people together, he’s a uniter, he is not a divider at all, he does not say whacked out things and he has great respect for women, including the women in his state.”

Pfeiffer noted that, “The Vice Presidential, it’s an important moment for the campaign, it’s a time when everyone pays attention, it’s great for organizing, great for fundraising, but in terms of actually moving the race, you’re talking a point or two here, which is decisive in recent elections.”

When asked about the contrast between Vance and Walz, Lake said: “JD Vance is just dangerous and weird.” His wife can try to explain why he’d say these things, but I think real people are having trouble understanding how you even come up with these configurations.”

Lake is referring to Usha Vance defending her husband’s 2021 cat lady remarks. Speaking to Fox News, she described the remarks as a “quip” and said she wished people would look at the context of what her husband said.

“I think that JD Vance was a Midwest strategy pick, and he may end up being just good for energizing the base,” Lake added.

Lake then continued: “What they are doing to energize their base and keep their base on board is really jeopardizing the swing vote. So, this stuff is horrifying to suburban voters, to women voters and I think we’re gonna see a record gender gap.”

“Tim Walz has always won with women voters in close races,” Lake said. “He comes across as someone who respects women, fights for women, and delivers for women, gets their lives. And JD Vance is just mystifying at every turn.”

Newsweek reached out to the Trump-Vance campaign via email for comment.

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