CNN's undecided voters reacted strongly to just 1 moment in the VP debate. It wasn't the Pence fly.

(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/CNN)

last updated 8 October 2020

CNN's snap poll after Wednesday's vice presidential debate showed Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) handily winning the showdown, with 59 percent picking her as the victor versus 38 percent who named Vice President Mike Pence. But at CNN's watch party for undecided voters in Arizona, it was a 4-4 tie — though the only two participants who said there was a clear winner thought Harris won.

The voters reacted to the debate with a dial, and there was really only one moment where the dial went up, CNN's Sara Sidner said, and it was when Harris criticized the Trump administration for being dishonest about COVID-19. CNN showed the moment and the lines, but when Sidner asked some participants to explain why they had reacted that way in real time, their answers didn't really track.

Sidner did not ask specifically about how Harris did, but she got a mixed, mostly negative bag of one-word responses for Pence's performance. There were three positive responses — "polished" and "confident" twice — and lots of more negative reactions: "shifty," "evasive," "stubborn," "not sincere," "calculated," and "overtime — he kept stealing her time." One undecided voter went down the middle, calling Pence "consistent, because there was nothing new, no surprises."

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.

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