What you need to know about Election Day exit polls
Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — Anyone who has watched Election Day coverage in the past, or is excited to do so in the hotly contested 2024 election, has probably heard anchors or analysts refer to exit polls. But what are they and how do they work?
Exit polls are surveys conducted as voters leave their polling places on Election Day. Reaching voters at that moment helps ensure that the people surveyed have actually voted. Critical questions of who won and why are answered from exit poll results. Exit polls tell what issues were important in the election and how important demographic groups voted.
How are exit polls conducted?
Interviewers stand outside polling places at randomly selected precincts across the country and approach voters at specific intervals as they exit, for example every fifth or ninth voter.
Voters who agree to participate fill out a short, confidential questionnaire and place it in a ballot box.
Interviewers phone in the results three times during the day. When a voter refuses to participate, interviewers note the gender and approximate age and race of that voter. This information is used to statistically adjust the exit poll to ensure that all voters are fairly represented in the final results.
What sort of questions are asked in an exit poll?
The exit poll questionnaire asks who people voted for, their demographics, opinions about the candidates and opinions on important issues. Here’s an example of a previous exit poll issue question, from 2022:
Do you think the condition of the nation’s economy is: 1. Excellent 2. Good 3. Not so good 4. Poor
Are exit polls accurate?
Exit polls, like any other survey, are subject to sampling and non-sampling error. Before news organizations report exit poll results or make projections, they compare results to pre-election polls and the voting history in that precinct and have statisticians and political experts carefully review the data.
After the polls close, exit poll results are weighted using the actual vote to make the data more accurate. Exit polls may be used to project the winners of races where the margin between the candidates is large. But most election projections are made after the polls close based on actual vote data.
How do exit polls account for the people who vote early or by mail?
In the 2020 presidential election, about 70 percent of voters voted before Election Day using some form of mail or early in-person voting. That number is expected to be about 60 percent in 2024.
Exit polls miss those who vote before Election Day. However, it is important to include them in the data in order to have accurate information about all voters.
Exit polls include those who vote absentee or early in two ways. The first is by conducting multi-mode polls (i.e. by phone, text and email) among those who have voted absentee or early. Second, in states with a high proportion of early in-person voters, exit polls are conducted in the weeks leading up to Election Day as these voters leave early-voting polling places. Data from the multi-mode polls and early-voter exit polls are combined with the Election Day exit poll to provide a complete picture of all voters, regardless of when they voted.
When will exit poll results be reported?
On Election Day, there is a strict embargo on any data coming from the early waves of exit poll data until 5 p.m. ET. By about 5:45 p.m. ET, some initial demographic information about voters and their views on key issues in the election will be available on ABCNews.com. After the polls close in a state, the complete exit poll crosstabs (which are data tables showing how a variety of subgroups have voted) will be posted on ABCNews.com.
ABC News will not project a winner until the last scheduled poll closing time in each state. If a race is not projected at poll closing time, the projection will incorporate actual vote data and will be made as soon as the data warrant. Information will be constantly updated throughout the evening on ABCNews.com and on all ABC News programs.
(NEW YORK) — The vice-presidential debate between Tim Walz and JD Vance could prove to be a major factor in the presidential election — given how close the race is and its potential impact with undecided voters.
The 90-minute CBS News showdown starts at 9 p.m. ET in New York City. ABC News Digital will live blog throughout the day and evening, pre-debate coverage will air at 8 p.m. on the ABC network and stream on ABC News Live — followed by the debate itself and post-debate analysis.
Here’s how the news is developing:
Claim: Walz: ‘Their Project 2025 is going to have a registry of pregnancies.’
Fact Check: Needs context
Walz has falsely claimed that Project 2025 will require pregnant women to register with a new federal agency designed to monitor their pregnancies. While the Project 2025 policy proposal is firmly against abortion, it does not call for monitoring pregnancies. It does, however, call for states to track abortions more meticulously than current CDC rules mandate, or else face punishment like cuts to federal funding.
Vance and Trump have also both said that Project 2025 is not associated with their campaign.
It’s worth noting, however, that Trump told Time Magazine in April that states could decide to start monitoring pregnancies as a way to track illegal abortions, saying that overturning Roe vs. Wade returned those decisions to the states.
“I think they might do that. Again, you’ll have to speak to the individual states. Look, Roe v. Wade was all about bringing it back to the states,” he told Time.
More broadly on the subject of abortion, Project 2025 does call for an end to the FDA’s approval of mifepristone, a widely used abortion medication, and calls for a revival of a 150-year-old law that bans the shipment of abortion related equipment and medicine from being sent via the U.S. Postal Service, which would make it much more difficult for women who are taking the drug legally to access the care.
In August, Trump signaled he was open to revoking mifepristone access during a press conference in Mar-A-Lago, when he responded to a reporter’s question about whether he would direct the FDA to ban the drug. “You could do things that … would supplement. Absolutely. And those things are pretty open and humane,” Trump said, while also emphasizing at that conference that he wanted to “give everybody a vote” on the issue.
When asked to clarify those remarks, Trump’s campaign pointed to the former President’s belief that abortion laws should be left to the states. The former President has also said he would not sign a federal abortion ban into law.
—Justin Fishel
Voters trust Harris much more on abortion
Vance said a few times in this debate that Republicans need to “win back people’s trust” on the issue of abortion, and the polls support that.
Abortion is important to many voters this cycle, especially women and Democrats. And they trust Harris more than Trump on the issue. In an ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll from August, they gave Harris a 12 point lead on the issue over Trump.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade, more Americans have also expanded their view of abortion rights and don’t want states to put limits on the procedure. KFF has found that nearly three-quarters of reproductive-age women oppose leaving abortion access up to the states, as Trump and Vance have said they support.
Democrats have been working in states across the country to paint Republican candidates as too extreme on the issue, and are hoping it drives voters to the polls as it has the past two years.
—538’s Monica Potts
Claim: Vance: ‘I never supported a national ban. I did during when I was running for Senate in 2022 talk about setting some minimum national standard.’
Fact Check: False
When running for Senate in 2022, Vance signaled support for a bill introduced by Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham that would ban abortion after 15 weeks nationwide. Vance called it “totally reasonable to say you cannot abort a baby, especially for elective reasons, after 15 weeks of gestation.”
Also during his 2022 Senate race, Vance said he supported setting “some minimum national standard” in an interview with USA Today.
—Cheyenne Haslett
Walz says they should find ‘common ground’ on housing, Vance blames immigrants
At times getting personal about home ownership, Walz defended Harris’ plan to build three million new homes.
“I think we should be able to find some common ground,” Walz said. “But we can’t blame immigrants for the only reason that’s not the case that’s happening in many cities, the fact of the matter is, is that we don’t have enough naturally affording affordable housing, but we can make sure that the government’s there to help kick start it.”
Vance continued to claim illegal immigration is responsible for higher prices.
“Tim just said something that I agree with. We don’t want to blame immigrants for higher housing prices, but we do want to blame Kamala Harris for letting in millions of illegal aliens into this country, which does drive up cost,” he said.
CBS News’ moderators then asked Vance for evidence that illegal immigration is leading to higher home prices. He said there was a “Federal Reserve” study he said he would share after the debate but did not elaborate.
Candidates differ with note-taking, body language, during debate
Walz is writing quite a lot during the debate.
Right off the bat, during first question to him, Walz took a few notes. Then, during Vance’s first and second answers, Walz continued to take additional notes during each of Vance’s answers.
Vance did not seem to pick up his pen until about 45 minutes in, but he has faced Walz almost continuously while Walz has been speaking.
When it comes to body language, Walz is rocking his weight back and forth on his feet, side to side. He speaks with his hands, sometimes his hands are on the podium, and sometimes his hands are closed with his arms down.
Vance, in contrast, has hardly moved his hands from both sides of the podium and is standing very still.
-ABC News’ MaryAlice Parks
Claim: Vance says Walz ended protections in Minnesota for babies born alive
Infanticide, the crime of killing a child within a year of its birth, is illegal in all U.S. states. In May 2023, Walz, as Minnesota governor, signed legislation updating a state law for “infants who are born alive.” This change did not alter the fact that under state law, these babies are protected.
Previously, state law said, “All reasonable measures consistent with good medical practice, including the compilation of appropriate medical records, shall be taken by the responsible medical personnel to preserve the life and health of the born alive infant.”
The law was updated to instead say medical personnel must “care for the infant who is born alive.” The law’s updated version also kept the provision that said, “An infant who is born alive shall be fully recognized as a human person, and accorded immediate protection under the law.”
Every person who is born has legal protections under federal and state laws, experts told PolitiFact.
—PolitiFact’s Sara Swann
Walz, Vance share friendly smile during break
Just before cameras started to roll for the next section of the debate, Walz entered the stage again with about 45 seconds to go.
Vance, though, cut it close and rushed back onstage right before the end of the break. As the stagehand announced, “10 seconds.” He was smiling.
The two men smiled at each other as the break ended.
-ABC News’ MayAlice Parks
Claim: Walz was in China during the Tiananmen Square Massacre in Beijing
Fact Check: False
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has repeatedly claimed he was in China during the Tiananmen Square, Beijing, protests during his year-long stint as a high school teacher in the southeastern Chinese town of Foshan starting in 1989.
Tonight he admitted that was false, saying he “misspoke” earlier, though he travelled to China in the months after the protests.
The school Walz taught at was near Hong Kong. He was there as part of the WorldTeach program, a nonprofit affiliated with Harvard University. But according to local newspaper clipping obtained by ABC News, it appears he did not actually travel to the country until August 1989,
The pro-democracy protests, which led to a deadly government crackdown by the Chinese government, lasted from April 15 to June 4, 1989 — ending about two months ahead of Walz’s travel to the country.
An article in the Chadron Record in Chadron, Nebraska dated August 11, 1989, said that Walz, a graduate of Chadron State College, “will leave Sunday enroute to China, where he will teach English and American history during the next year.”
Walz has spoken about Tiananmen Square repeatedly— why he supported the protests and why he stayed to be a witness.
As recently as in February, Walz said during an episode of the podcast “Pod Save America” that he was in Hong Kong during the protests. “I was in Hong Kong when it happened – I was in Hong Kong on June 4th when Tiananmen happened … Quite a few of our folks decided not to go in,” he said, further expanding on the experience. “There was a lot of Europeans in Hong Kong [saying] don’t do this, don’t go, don’t support them in this, and my thinking at the time was … what a golden opportunity to go tell how it was. And I did have a lot of freedom to do that, taught American history and could tell the story.”
Walz, while serving in Congress as ranking member on the Executive Commission on China, said at a 2014 congressional hearing marking 25 years since the massacre that “as the events were unfolding, several of us went in.”
“I will talk a lot,” Walz said tonight. “I will get caught up in the rhetoric. But being there, the impact it made, the difference it made in my life. I learned a lot about China.”
—Isabella Murray & Justin Fishel
Walz warns of dangers of GOP plans for reproductive rights
Walz talked about the dangers that women have faced since Roe. v Wade was overturned and claimed that one of Project 2025’s policies was to have a registry of pregnancies.
“It’s going to make it more difficult if not impossible, to get contraception and limit access, if not eliminate access to infertility treatments,” he said.
Vance denied the claims and reiterated his claims that he wanted to make America “pro-family.”
“And I want to talk about this issue because I know a lot of Americans care about and I know a lot of Americans don’t agree with everything that I’ve ever said on this topic,” he said.
When asked about his past comments on a national abortion ban, Vance denied that he was pushing for it, and again claimed that the Trump administration is trying to help families including “making childcare more accessible, making fertility treatments more accessible.”
Claim: ‘Iran, which launched this attack, has received over $100 billion in unfrozen assets thanks to the Kamala Harris administration. What do they use that money for? They use it to buy weapons that they’re now launching against our allies.’
Fact Check: False.
Vance might be referring to Iran’s claims that it was able to access $100 billion in previously frozen funds when it officially entered an Obama-era nuclear pact in 2016. However, the Obama White House estimated the total sanctions relief Iran could see was around $50 billion.
And while President Biden was vice president at the time the deal was brokered, Vice President Harris was California’s attorney general and had nothing to do with the agreement, which former President Trump exited in 2018.
Another GOP claim has been that Biden and Harris have allowed Iran to access $16 billion—not $100 billion—of its frozen revenue during Biden’s time in office. However, that assertion is also complicated.
In July 2023, the Biden administration expanded a waiver President Trump had initially put in place that allowed Iraq to purchase energy from Iran without running afoul of sanctions, according to the administration. That move greenlit some of roughly $10 billion in Iraqi payments to be transferred to third-party countries, primarily Oman, and used by Tehran to purchase non-sanctioned goods. According to U.S. officials, those funds are protected by a vetting system to ensure they cannot be put toward nefarious purposes.
Biden administration officials have testified that Iran has been able to withdraw at least some of the money held in Oman, but it’s unclear how much it has accessed and how that money was spent.
However, after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel, the U.S. and Qatar reached an agreement to freeze the funds indefinitely, and a State Department official confirms that Iran has not been able to access any the $6 billion.
—Shannon Kingston
Walz pressed on Hong Kong discrepancy, says he ‘misspoke’
When asked why Walz previously said he was in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square massacre, Walz only glancingly responded, only saying that he’s “a knucklehead at times” and that his extensive travel to China “is about trying to understand the world, it’s about trying to do the best you can for the community.”
When pressed further, he conceded that he “misspoke” and that he was in Hong Kong the year of the massacre but not at the time it happened.
Vance’s past criticisms of Trump are highlighted. He defends himself
Walz repeatedly poked at Vance’s past criticisms of Trump and now the CBS moderator is asking him to explain
“Because I’ve always been open and sometimes, of course, I’ve disagreed with the president but I’ve also been extremely open about the fact that I was wrong about Donald Trump,” Vance said.
Vance blamed the media for its coverage of Trump and then said he changed his mind in part because of Trump’s record in office.
Candidates defend their economic plans
Both candidates were asked how their economic plans would avoid ballooning the deficit by trillions of dollars, citing projections by the Wharton School.
Walz said their plan is “simple.”
“Kamala Harris has said to do the things she wants to do, we’ll just ask the wealthiest to pay their fair share. When you do that, our system works best, more people are participating in it, and folks have the things that they need,” he said.
Vance pushed back against the analysis.
“A lot of those same economists attack Donald Trump’s plans, and they have PhDs, but they don’t have common sense and they don’t have wisdom,” Vance said, citing Trump’s record on tax cuts.
Vance lashes out at experts who say Trump’s economic plans will add to deficit
The Penn Wharton Budget Model has estimated that Trump’s tax and spending proposal will cause tax revenue to fall by $5.8 trillion and produce a similar amount of primary deficit over the course of a decade.
Vance lashed out at the experts, saying not to trust them but to trust “common sense.”
“A lot of the same economists attacked Donald Trump’s plans and they have PhDs but they don’t have common sense and they don’t have wisdom,” he said.
Walz immediately pushed back on Vance.
“Economists can’t be trusted. Science can’t be trusted. National security folks can’t be trusted. If you’re going to be president, you don’t have all the answers. Donald Trump believes he does. Pro-tip of the day is this, if you need heart surgery, listen to the people at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, not Donald Trump,” Walz said.
Walz invokes his faith while talking about his support for the border bill
Walz has never invoked his Christian faith on the campaign trail, but during the debate, he quoted a Bible verse while reiterating his support for the border bill that failed to pass through Congress this year.
“This bill gets it done in 90 days. Then you start to make a difference in this and you start to adhere to what we know, American principles. Look, I don’t talk about my faith a lot, but Matthew 25:40 talks about — to the least amongst us. You do unto me,” he said.
“I think that’s true of most Americans. They simply want order to it. This bill does it. It’s funded. It’s supported by the people who do it. And it lets us keep our dignity about how we treat other people,” he said.
-ABC News’ Isabella Murray
Claim: Vance: ‘We’ve got 20, 25 million illegal aliens who are here in the country’
During Biden’s administration, immigration officials have encountered immigrants illegally crossing the U.S. border around 10 million times. When accounting for “got aways” — people who aren’t stopped by border officials — the number rises to about 11.6 million.
But encounters don’t mean admissions. Encounters represent events, so one person who tries to cross the border twice counts for two encounters. Also, not everyone encountered is let into the country. The Department of Homeland Security estimates about 4.2 million encounters have led to expulsions or removals.
About 3.9 million people have been released into the U.S. to await immigration court hearings under Biden’s administration, Department of Homeland Security data shows.
—PolitiFact’s Maria Ramirez Uribe
Debate has largely been civil, but mics had to be cut off on one of the most contentious issues
The debate has largely been civil thus far, with each vice presidential candidate sharing their thoughts on how their running mate wants to solve key issues.
However, the microphones had to be cut by CBS News during a conversation about immigration — mainly, the legal status of Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio.
CBS News had initially said its moderators would not focus on fact-checking the candidates but would reserve the right to mute the candidates’ microphones.
Vance not backing down from Springfield, gets his microphone cut
Vance did not attempt to walk back or apologize for his baseless claims about Haitian migrants in Springfield.
While he didn’t repeat his most egregious falsehoods that the migrants are eating pets, Vance continued to state they were in the U.S. illegally — which they are not.
After the CBS moderator tried to move onto the economy, Vance repeatedly interrupted her. They then cut his microphone.
Vance sidesteps answering if Trump thinks climate change is a hoax
Walz said Trump has called climate change a hoax and then “joked that these things would make more beachfront property to be able to invest in.”
In referencing those remarks, the moderator asked Vance if he agreed. Vance did not directly answer, instead responding that Trump has said that if Democrats believed that climate change is serious, they would be increasing energy production in the U.S. “and that’s not what they’re doing.”
He also said Democrats use clean energy as a “slogan.”
Vance’s Appalachia controversy
Vance often evokes his personal connections to Appalachia, as he did just now talking about Hurricane Helene’s devastation of the region. But there’s more than a bit of controversy over this. While his grandparents were from Southeastern Kentucky, Vance himself grew up in Middletown, Ohio, as was the subject of his memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis.” Middletown itself is a small city of about 50,000 between Cincinnati and Dayton, far from Appalachia.
For his part, Walz was born in a small town in Nebraska — West Point, a town of about 3,500 — and has spent most of his career representing or living in the Midwest.
—538’s Monica Potts
Walz defends Harris’ immigration record
In response to Vance’s criticism of Harris’ immigration policy, Walz brought up the fact that Congress had a plan to address the migrant issue before Trump pushed Republicans to drop their support.
“Pass the bill, she’ll sign it,” Walz said.
Claim: Walz: ‘The person closest … to Donald Trump, said he is unfit for the highest office. That is Senator Vance.’
Fact Check: True
Vance has shifted his view toward President Trump since he first rose to prominence. Early in his career, Vance made a number of comments that were disparaging toward Trump. The specific comment that Walz seems to be referencing here is from a 2016 New York Times op-ed written by Vance ahead of the release of his book “Hillbilly Elegy.” In the op-ed, Vance wrote that “Mr. Trump is unfit for our nation’s highest office.” In years since the op-ed was published, Vance has said his views on Trump changed.
—Allison Pecorin
Vance pressed on mass deportation plans
Vance was pressed on his proposal to mass deport immigrants.
The senator argued that it was time to “stop the bleeding” contending Harris’ policies have allowed for more criminal activity.
He maintained that the first deportations should be those with criminal histories and the country should go back to Trump’s border policies.
Vance, Walz offer contrasting views on climate change when questioned on Hurricane Helene
Asked about climate change’s role in extreme weather amidst the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, Vance said Trump supports clean air and water, but expressed skepticism carbon emissions play a role in such weather events.
Vance’s comments come one day after Trump bluntly denied any connection between climate change and the devastating storm.
Walz, meanwhile, emphatically said during his response: “Climate change is real.”
Candidates pressed on Iran attack on Israel
Both candidates were pressed in the first question on whether they’d support a preemptive Israeli strike on Iran if it was determined that Tehran had secured a nuclear weapon.
Walz started off shaky, at one point confusing Israel and Iran but declaring that Harris would provide “steady leadership” while noting that at the first presidential debate, “80-year-old Donald Trump” was “talking about crowd sizes.”
Vance began by rattling off his biography before saying that “Donald Trump actually delivered stability in the world” by creating “deterrence” and “peace through strength.”
Walz responded that Trump’s “fickle leadership” helped Iran get near a weapon by backing out of a U.S.-led nuclear deal and that “we need the steady leadership that Kamala Harris is providing.”
Walz, Vance shake hands before debate begins
Walz and Vance shook hands before the debate started.
There was no handshake during the last vice presidential debate because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Candidates take the stage
Vance and Walz started at their podiums for tonight’s debate, so far the only scheduled matchup between the two vice presidential nominees.
Tonight’s viewers have largely already made up their mind
Debates are big deals, and it’s tempting to treat tonight like a potential game-changer in the campaign. But the reality is, most people who are planning to watch tonight aren’t still candidate-shopping. A YouGov/CBS News poll from late last week asked people who were planning to watch the debate why they were planning to do so; 71% said to root for their party’s candidate and 61% said to see if the other side made a mistake. Only 24% said to help them decide who to vote for.
—538’s Nathaniel Rakich
‘It’s game time’: Harris
Vice President Kamala Harris gave her running mate a good luck sendoff in a post on X less than 10 minutes before the debate started.
“@TimWalz, it’s game time,” she said. “I am excited for the country to see you in action.”
-ABC News’ Oren Oppenheim_
Springfield voters want ‘fewer memes, more solutions’ from the campaigns
The Ohio town was at the center of a political firestorm after Vance and Trump amplified false claims that Haitian migrants were eating people’s pets.
Voters there told ABC News’ Terry Moran what they want to hear from both campaigns in these final weeks of the race.
“They know the city is on a recovering path,” Moran said. “What they want is practical, pragmatic solutions to the problems they face. If there are going to be immigrants in this community that don’t speak the language, they need more help with the translation. They need more resources for primary care, for school teachers.”
“They want to hear fewer memes, more solutions.”
Read more about what unfolded in Springfield and Vance’s false claims about the migrants there.
Trump’s advice to Vance: ‘Have fun’
Former President Trump said he told his running mate to “have fun” ahead of tonight’s debate.
“He’s a smart guy. He’s been amazing. He’s been a real warrior,” Trump said of Vance during a campaign event in Milwaukee.
Gwen Walz sends husband well-wishes before debate
Minnesota first lady Gwen Walz sent her husband well-wishes in a post on X prior to the debate.
“Tim has always held true to the values he grew up with: loving your country, helping your neighbor, and fighting for what’s right.” she wrote.
“We’re so proud of you, Tim.”
Tim has always held true to the values he grew up with: loving your country, helping your neighbor, and fighting for what’s right.
Vance, at 40, is the first millennial on a major party ticket and has only been a politician for two years. He was elected to the Senate in 2022.
Walz, who is 60, has been in government for decades. He successfully ran for Congress in 2005 and served for six terms. He became the governor of Minnesota in 2018 and was reelected in 2022.
Still, some commonalities exist: both are military veterans and they each bring Midwest bona fides to their respective tickets.
Vance arrives at debate site
Vance has arrived at CBS Studios for the debate.
-ABC News’ Hannah Demissie
Walz arrives at CBS Studios in NYC for debate
Walz’s motorcade has arrived at CBS Studios in New York City for the debate. Vance is en route.
-ABC News’ Isabella Murray and Hannah Demissie
Political analysts weigh in on what Vance, Walz need to do to win
Reince Priebus and Donna Brazile joined ABC News Live to discuss what the goals are for Vance and Walz tonight.
“They have one thing to do: to show they can be president and to show the American people that they’re likable,” said Priebus, who served as chief of staff in the Trump White House.
Priebus also stressed the need to reach “uncommitted voters” and discuss what they want to hear. For Republicans, he said, the key issue is the economy, while Democrats will want to hear about health care.
Brazile, a Democratic Party operative, said Walz has to focus on how the Biden-Harris administration has lowered costs and tackled inflation while also bringing back manufacturing jobs.
“So I think that winner of this debate will be able to talk about those kitchen table issues that will be relatable to the American people. Let’s abort all the conversations about childless women and cats and dogs, and instead address those concerns,” she said.
Biden sends well-wishes to Walz in social media post
President Joe Biden sent well-wishes to Walz in a post on X from his campaign account on Tuesday night ahead of the CBS News vice presidential debate.
“Coach, I got your back tonight! Tonight, America will see the strong, principled, and effective leader I’ve known for years—and the contrast you and Kamala provide against the other team,” Biden wrote.
Coach, I got your back tonight!
Tonight, America will see the strong, principled, and effective leader I’ve known for years—and the contrast you and Kamala provide against the other team. pic.twitter.com/7ojASvwkjw
Stefanik, in spin room, says Iran’s latest attacks raise stakes of national security issues
Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., surrogating for Vance, predicted that Iran’s attacks Tuesday on Israel could be a part of the debate questions, saying the latest development in the Middle East has raised the stakes of the importance of national security issues.
“I think that as the American people are seeing the unprecedented hypersonic ballistic missile attack directly from Iran launched into multiple quantities, that raises the stakes,” she said in the spin room. “It also provides an opportunity for JD Vance to compare the peace through strength, and the peace, specifically in the Middle East under President Trump, versus this catastrophe that we’re seeing around the world.”
-ABC News’ Soo Rin Kim
Harris, in fundraising pitch, says Walz ‘is ready’ to debate Vance
Vice President Harris, in a fundraising pitch email to supporters, said Walz “is ready” to debate Vance.
“In just hours, Tim Walz will debate JD Vance,” she wrote. “I know that he is ready. And it would help if he knew donors like you had his back before he got on stage.”
Harris added that “Tim has been an outstanding partner out on the campaign trail over the last two months,” and “I have the utmost confidence in the team we’ve built.”
-ABC News’ Fritz Farrow
Biden has ‘complete confidence’ in Walz: White House
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre wouldn’t say during the White House press briefing on Tuesday whether President Joe Biden would watch the vice presidential debate, but she said the president has “complete confidence” in Walz.
“He continues to be very busy with all of the events happening today,” she said during Tuesday’s briefing. “But he has complete confidence in Tim Walz.”
Gabbard predicts ‘stark contrast’ between Walz and Vance during debate
Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard spoke to ABC News Live on Tuesday where she criticized Walz’s lack of media interviews, predicting that it will show in the debate.
“I think there’s going to be a stark contrast here, given JD Vance has been out on the road doing multiple interviews,” she told ABC News Live. “I think he’s done more interviews than any candidate in this election, whereas Tim Walz has been very quiet on that front.”
“I think this opportunity tonight, I hope, will not be more of the same kind of political theater that we’ve seen in so many of these debates, but actual substantive discussion and debate and accountability,” Gabbard — who endorsed Trump — continued.
Ahead of Tuesday’s debate, Adrienne Elrod, Harris campaign senior adviser and spokesperson, made an appearance on ABC News Live and said that Walz is taking it “very, very seriously.”
“Gov. Walz is taking this debate very, very seriously because you understand the magnitude of this moment,” Elrod said. “He’s going to continue to really talk about the Harris-Walz priorities, what their administration would look like, lowering costs for middle class families, protecting the Affordable Care Act, not getting rid of it.”
-ABC News’ Casey McShea
CBS News says mics won’t be muted for VP debate
CBS News, the network hosting the debate, said that the candidates’ microphones will not be muted, but clarified in a press release that it “reserves the right to turn off candidate microphones.”
This is a shift from the CNN presidential debate in June and the ABC News presidential debate held earlier this month, where microphones were muted unless it was the candidate’s turn to speak.
Emmer says Vance will hold Walz ‘accountable’ during VP debate
Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., praised Vance on “This Week” Sunday, saying the Ohio senator will do a “great job” on Tuesday night and that “he’s got the issues on his side.”
“Vance could talk about the economy that Donald Trump fixed and that Harris and Biden broke. He can talk about the border that Trump fixed and they broke. He can talk about peace and stability around the world, which they don’t even have a clue [about]; they’ve caused all of this disruption,” Emmer said. “Once he understands that Tim Walz is just going to try and deflect and go into this folksy whatever, he’ll hold him accountable.”
-ABC News’ Hannah Demissie
Why VP debates aren’t all that important
Typically, fewer people watch vice presidential debates than presidential debates. And while presidential debates are historically one of the few things that can actually make a dent in the polls, vice presidential debates don’t have the same track record.
According to Nielsen, since 2008, presidential debates have drawn an average audience of 65.7 million people. But vice presidential debates have drawn an average of just 54.1 million viewers. But 54.1 million people is still a pretty big audience — so have past vice presidential debates actually changed the trajectory of the race?
That turns out to be a tricky question to answer. Read more here.
-538’s Nathaniel Rakich and Amina Brown
How to watch the VP debate
The 90-minute debate will air on CBS and be simulcast on the ABC network and stream on ABC News Live.
ABC pre-debate coverage begins at 8 p.m. ET; post-debate ABC News coverage will go on until 11 p.m. ET. ABC News Live, ABC News’ 24/7 streaming news channel, will provide full coverage beginning at 7 p.m. ET and run through 12 a.m. ET.
Former President Donald Trump told Kellyanne Conway on Monday morning that the debate will be stacked against his running mate. He also remained undecided on a second debate against Vice President Kamala Harris.
“So, I’d rather debate. I’d rather have another one. The problem is, we’re so far down the line,” Trump said.
Trump claimed the debates are “so stacked,” adding, “you’ll see it tomorrow with JD. It’ll be stacked.”
While on the campaign trail last weekend, Harris used Tuesday night’s debate to goad Trump into accepting a second debate, saying that it shouldn’t be the “last word.”
-ABC News’ Kelsey Walsh and Gabriella Abdul-Hakim
Vance is prepared for debate: Trump campaign
Vance is prepared for his debate against Walz, said Jason Miller, the Trump campaign senior adviser, on Monday.
The Ohio senator has turned to Minnesota Rep. Tom Emmer to help him in debate rehearsals by playing Walz, sources familiar with the plans told ABC News. One of the sources said Emmer was invited to be the stand-in so Vance could prepare to take on the governor’s folksy personality.
-ABC News’ Hannah Demissie
Where’s Walz? From under the radar to the VP debate spotlight
In the eight weeks since being selected by Harris to join the ticket, Walz — originally thought to be a dark-horse selection coming from behind to beat out some better-known national figures — has effectively barnstormed the country.
“I think this is a big moment for him. Up till now, he’s been heavily managed and carefully guarded,” said Larry Jacobs, the director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the University of Minnesota. “Now he’s going to be out there on the stage, and if he makes mistakes or comes off as not quite as authentic as he’s been claiming, I think it’ll be damaging to him, and he might make mistakes.”
Walz will not be in the spin room after the debate, according to the Harris-Walz campaign.
Seven surrogates will spin for him instead, including Sens. Mark Kelly, Amy Klobuchar, Ben Ray Luján; Govs. Jared Polis and JB Pritzker; Rep. Jasmine Crockett and Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison.
-ABC News’ Isabella Murray
Vance to visit spin room after debate
Vance will go to the spin room following his debate with Walz, according to a source familiar with the plan.
He also participated in the spin room after former President Donald Trump’s debate against Vice President Kamala Harris in September.
Politico was first to report Vance’s plans.
-ABC News’ Hannah Demissie
Walz ‘looking forward’ to debate
While campaigning around Petoskey, Michigan, on Monday, Walz said that his “focus” was on Hurricane Helene and its destruction across the southeast, even while “looking forward” to the debate.
To prepare for Tuesday night, Walz used Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg as a Vance stand-in, who “surprised everyone by showing up to prep in a cheap red tie instead of camp casual attire,” according to a source familiar.
-ABC News’ Isabella Murray
Walz, Vance set for tight-race showdown
Sometimes, vice-presidential debates tend not to matter much and are quickly forgotten.
But tonight’s showdown in New York City could matter more than most given how close the presidential race is at the moment.
Many undecided voters – who could end up deciding the election – will get their first chance to hear at length from the Harris and Trump running mates.
The CBS News debate – where mics will be unmuted and the candidates will have to do their own fact-checking – starts at 9 p.m. ET.
The ABC network will carry the debate live with pre-debate coverage beginning at 8 p.m. ET. ABC News Live will stream pre-debate coverage, the debate and post-debate analysis and ABC News Digital/538 will live blog during the debate with key takeaways afterward.
(WASHINGTON) — Billionaire businessman Mark Cuban, who has thrown his weight behind Vice President Kamala Harris, told ABC News on Tuesday that he tried to set up a private meeting between Elon Musk and Harris, but her team declined.
Cuban said the campaign passed because “they didn’t think Elon Musk could keep the conversation private.”
“The things he says about Kamala are so far off I thought it would be beneficial for them to talk,” Cuban said of Musk.
If Harris wins the race, Cuban said he’d still try to set up a conversation between Harris and Musk, given that he’s one of the “best entrepreneurs.” The move is “not political — it’s common sense,” Cuban added.
Cuban also said that Musk’s pledge to give away $1 million a day to voters for signing his political action committee’s petition is a move out of “desperation” that could “backfire.”
With two weeks until Election Day, Cuban told CNBC that the Harris campaign’s biggest challenge is that “they’re not great salespeople.”
Cuban elaborated, saying being a salesperson is not Harris’ strength.
“Harris is just not a good salesperson — she’s strong on policy, integrity, ethics, understanding, self-awareness, open-mindedness,” said Cuban, a star of the ABC reality TV show “Shark Tank” and the former majority owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks. “She’s great on politics for business and policies across the board. That’s where her strengths lie. Not everyone is a great salesperson.”
“Trump is the opposite. He will say things that are not remotely true,” Cuban said, adding that Trump will repeat falsehoods to make the sell.
Cuban said he has talked to Harris’ team about her improving as a salesperson, but said that in the sprint to the finish, “you’re not going to send her to a sales class at this point.”
“If I’m voting for someone who is ethical and honest — I’ll take the person who is not a great salesperson,” Cuban said, adding that surrogates like himself can help make the sell on the trail and that the candidate themself doesn’t have to be the best salesperson.
As Election Day rapidly approaches, Cuban and other surrogates are talking to voters about the value their candidate brings and their vision for the country in what’s expected to be a close contest. Earlier this month, Cuban embarked on a multi-day speaking tour through battleground Pennsylvania touting the Harris-Walz ticket.
Cuban said he spoke to Harris recently, remarking that her schedule is “worse than a professional sports team” so he wanted to see how she’s doing.
“I asked her how she is. She’s doing well. She’s holding up. She’s a workout machine. Harris is a workout machine,” Cuban said, referring to her exercise routine. “Whereas Donald Trump can’t see his toes.”
Cuban said that Harris’ economic plan is an improvement over Trump’s, which he said would raise costs for businesses and consumers.
“The second largest line item for every business is healthcare, it’s benefits, and she is looking to cut down those costs. Donald Trump has concepts of a plan,” Cuban said, referencing Trump’s response during the ABC News presidential debate when asked about his health care plan.
“He said he’s going to do across the board tariffs. That could be 60% of everything. Almost everything you buy for Christmas is made at some point from China. If that happens this time next year, then every household is going to have to cut back on what they buy for Christmas,” Cuban added.
Despite the polls tightening, Cuban insists that the momentum is still on Harris’ side.
On July 23, Harris’ favorability rating was 51.6% “unfavorable” and 38.6% “favorable,” according to 538’s favorability averages. At the moment, 47.2% see her as unfavorable and 46.6% as favorable.
Cuban said 13 weeks ago, Harris’ “favorables were negative,” but things have improved now.
“She was behind what Joe Biden was pulling at the time. And in those 13 weeks at worst she’s caught up and at best she’s ahead. Do you realize how incredible that is? Versus someone who is a former president and ran last cycle and has been campaigning almost the entire time since.”
(WASHINGTON) — Immigration advocacy groups and Democratic leaders are seeking to disrupt President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to deport millions of undocumented immigrants by pre-drafting lawsuits that could be filed as soon as he takes office.
Trump has vowed carry out what he calls “the largest deportation operation” in the country’s history, and has pledged to reinstate and expand his controversial ban on people coming into the U.S. from certain majority-Muslim countries as part of his immigration policy.
On Monday, he re-emphasized on Truth Social that he is prepared to declare a national emergency and use military assets to carry out his promise of mass deportation.
Several immigration advocates and Democratic leaders told ABC News they have spent months preparing for the prospect of another Trump presidency and the expected crackdown on immigrants that Trump and his newly tapped border czar Tom Homan have promised.
Homan, who has embraced Trump’s pledge to undertake mass deportations on “Day 1” of the new administration, oversaw the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) during the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” enforcement that separated parents from their children at the border.
“In California, we’ve been thinking about the possibility of this day for months and in some cases, years, and been preparing and getting ready by looking at all of the actions Trump said he will take,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta told ABC News.
Bonta said his team has prepared briefs on several immigration issues that Trump mentioned on the campaign trail. including mass deportations, birthright citizenship, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and sanctuary cities.
“There will be pain and harm inflicted by him. It is not all avoidable, but to get to our immigrant communities in ways that are in violation of the law, they’re going to have to go through me, and we will stop them in courts using our legal tools given to us,” Bonta said.
The California attorney general claims that 80% of the state’s legal challenges against the immigration executive orders and policies from Trump’s first term were successful.
“We’re very confident that we will block major efforts by the federal administration, that we will be able to blunt some of the worst of it,” Bonta said.
The 24 Democratic state attorneys general across the United States hope to present a unified front to block the Trump administration’s immigration policy by using his first term as a blueprint, according to Sean Rankin, the president of the Democratic Attorneys General Association.
“When we look at immigration, we know that that is something that the president has talked about over and over and over again,” Rankin told ABC News. “At this point, we’re not connecting dots. We’re following flashing arrows. It’s very easy to see where they’re going to go.”
One of Homan’s targets in his mass deportation plan are sanctuary states and cities — places that have enacted laws designed at protecting undocumented immigrants. The policies, which vary by state, generally prohibit city officials from cooperating with the federal immigration authorities.
“They better get the hell out of the way,” Homan said last week, regarding the governors of sanctuary states. “Either you help us or get the hell out of the way, because ICE is going to do their job.”
Leaders in several sanctuary cities have said they are going to fight back using all the tools legally available to protect immigrant communities.
“We have been doing the work in this office to prepare for a lot of different hypotheticals and we will be prepared to face those with every tool that we have,” said Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson at a press conference last week.
Ferguson told reporters that between 2017 and 2021, his legal team defeated 55 “illegal actions” and policies from the Trump administration. But while his office has been preparing litigation for months, Ferguson said he believes the second Trump administration will also be better prepared than the first one.
“One of many reasons why we were successful with our litigation against the Trump administration was they were often sloppy in the way they rolled out and that provided openings to us to prevail,” Ferguson told reporters. “In court this time around, I anticipate that we will see less of that, and that is an important difference.”
In addition to considering the use of the military to carry out deportations, Trump and his allies have suggested using an obscure section of the 1798 Alien and Sedition Acts — a set of 18th century wartime laws — to immediately deport some migrants without a hearing.
Lee Gelernt, the deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, told ABC News that they have been preparing for the potential use of the military to conduct deportations.
“They’re going to try and use the military, under the alien enemies act, to summarily deport people,” Gelernt said. “We will try and challenge it immediately.”
Gelernt, who led the ACLU’s legal response to family separations in Trump’s first term, said he expects the upcoming Trump administration to be “worse for immigrants” than the first.
“The Trump team has apparently been preparing for four years to implement anti-immigrant policies, and the rhetoric in the country has gotten so much more polarized than it was in 2016,” Gelernt said.
During Trump’s first term, Gelernt said groups like the ACLU were caught off-guard with some of his executive orders like the travel ban — but this time around, the organization has been preparing litigation for almost a year. In 2018, the Supreme Court upheld Trump’s controversial ban on travel from several predominantly Muslim countries, which the Biden administration later eliminated. Since then, Trump has appointed two Supreme Court justices.
“We are plotting out our challenges with much more advanced preparation, and we are doing our best to coordinate among all the various NGOs [non-governmental organizations] around the country,” Gelernt said.
“As litigators, we’ve been convening, we’ve been preparing, we’ve been trying to anticipate the unimaginable as we walk into the next four years,” said Alina Das, co-director of the Immigrant Rights Clinic at the New York University School of Law.
