Unlike most of the high-profile figures who took the stage Wednesday night, vice presidential nominee Indiana Gov. Mike Pence is unknown to most voters. After formally accepting his vice presidential nomination, Pence immediately dispelled the figurative elephant in the room: “For those of you who don’t know me, which is most of you...”
His introductory speech marked a crucial opportunity to make a lasting impression on the mass public; a publicized vantage point from which he could sell both himself and the Republican ticket to viewers. And he did just that.
During his convention speech, Pence tactically touted his economic accomplishments in Indiana, specifically citing the budget surplus and tax cuts. He hammered home his success in governing his home state, leveraging his political experience. Pence also struck a personal note, emphasizing his Christian, conservative and Republican identity ― “in that order”.
A Morning Consult poll tested whether Pence’s stance on various issues would affect the likelihood of voters supporting the Republican ticket. The results were a mixed bag. The Indiana governor’s economic accomplishments were seen to have a positive effect on voters ― about half of independent voters and 3 in 4 Republican voters say they have a better impression of Pence when they know that Indiana had a $210 million budget surplus at the end of 2015, and that Pence lowered property and corporate income taxes.
Other issues elicited negative feedback among voters. When respondents were told that in 2009 Pence voted “no” on enforcing against anti-gay hate crimes and that in 2007 he voted to allow job discrimination based on sexual orientation, about half of voters (and almost half of independents) say they had a less favorable view of him. Pence mentioned none of these policy positions in the convention speech.
Although vice presidential picks tend not to sway election outcomes (and polling indicates that this case will not be any different), Pence certainly adds contrast to the Republican ticket ― he is, in many respects, the antithesis of Donald Trump. “[Trump] is a man known for a large personality; a colorful style, with lots of charisma,” Pence said of the business mogul during the speech. “So I guess he was trying to balance the ticket.”
A new swath of polling by CBS/YouGov among 11 key battleground states shows that more voters consider Trump’s selection of Pence as “cautious” rather than “bold,” “boring” as opposed to “exciting” and as bringing “stability” rather than “uncertainty” to the ticket. Respondents also believe Trump’s vice presidential choice reflects “politics as usual” more so than it “represents change.”
These terms typically characterize anything but the routinely bombastic Republican nominee. Although polls show that the Pence selection has a negligible impact on voters’ likelihood of supporting Trump, it signals what could be a maneuver on Trump’s behalf to appeal to the GOP establishment by throttling back on his typically extremist tendencies.
The reorientation appears antithetical to the very sentiment that elevated Trump to political prominence in the first place. The CBS/YouGov poll also asked voters whether they exhibited any level of agreement with Trump concerning various issues the Republican presidential nominee takes a strong stance on: immigration, terrorism, how to change Wall Street and economic inequality, and the need to change Washington. A majority of voters expressed some level of agreement with Trump on every key issue.
Interestingly, of all the key issues polled about, respondents expressed a very high level of corroboration (73 percent) with Trump’s stance on one particular issue: “the need to change Washington.”
However, Trump’s selection of a Washington insider as a running mate perhaps signals a move to consolidate the traditional Republican base. Though Trump’s appeal is largely based on being a political outsider, he appears to be bending toward the traditional establishment politics he once marketed himself as being detached from.
Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims ― 1.6 billion members of an entire religion ― from entering the U.S.
