By Emily Baker
, Will Grimm, 
Alexander Nunez, 
Madelyn Ward

The vice presidential debate will take place on Wednesday, October 7 from 9 to 10:30 p.m. ET. It will be held at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, and moderated by Susan Page of USA Today.

 

How to watch the debates:

• YouTube
• Livestream on CSPAN
• The debates will be broadcast on all major networks and their corresponding streaming channels.

Join JMU Community Livestream Discussions 

• Join a discussion with the JMU community on Discord during and after the debates: https://discord.com/invite/sYEC27H
• Once you are verified in Discord, look for the #jmu channel.
• Join conversations on social media using #JMUDebateWatch & #DukesVote

Format: There are no set topics for the vice presidential debate but below are some key issues that may arise. There will be nine segments of ten minutes each. 

Key Points

Role of the Vice President

• According to article I section 3 of the constitution, the vice president is the president of the Senate, but has no vote in the senate unless there is a tie.
• The vice president ranks first in the line of presidential succession. Article 2, Section 1, Clause 6 of the Constitution states that in the removal of the president from office, his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of office, the vice president is to take over and act as president.
• The vice president receives a tally of the electoral ballots cast for president and is to open the certificates in presence of the Senate and House of Representative so the votes may be counted for.
• For the first 130 years of our country, the vice president mainly worked with the Senate on policy issues and rarely interacted with the president’s agenda. During the 20th century, the role of the vice president evolved. It is now seen as an integral part of the president’s administration and presides over the senate only on ceremonial occasions (or when a tie breaker is necessary).
• Vice presidents serve as an advisor, governing partner, make public appearances representing the president, perform ceremonial duties in place of the president and meet with heads of state or governments of other countries.
• The approach to the role of vice president and its executive functions can vary depending on the personality and skills of the individual incumbent or based on the reasons they were chosen by a candidate, for example to carry out an agenda on a particular policy or issue or to work with Congress.
• Vice presidents are chosen by the presidential nominees. Reasons for choosing a particular individual might include balancing the ticket to attract groups of voters or appease factions that exist within a party.
• Vice presidents serve as a member of the National Security Council and contribute to important decisions on security matters.

Vice President Mike Pence

• He was born on June 7,  and is 61 years old. He is married to Karen Pence, a former schoolteacher.
• He attended Hanover College and Indiana University Law School. After he graduated he practiced law and hosted a condservative radio show. 
• He is a former US Congressman for the state of Indiana from 2001 to 2013, the governor of Indiana from 2013 to 2017, and is currently the vice president.
• As Governor of Indiana, he enacted the largest income tax cut in Indiana history, lowering individual income tax rates, the business personal property tax, and the corporate income tax in order to strengthen the State’s competitive edge and attract new investment and good-paying jobs. Indiana’s unemployment rate fell by half during his four years in office as a result of his policies.
• His leadership was known as “The Crossroads of America” because he invested more than $800 million in new money for roads and bridges across the state of Indiana
• He is socially and fiscally a strong conversative. He has strong christian values that governs his life and is part of the Tea Party movement.
• An opponent of abortion with aims to defund Planned Partenhood- he introduced legislation to block organiztions that provide abotion services from receiving Title X funding not related to reproductive health or family planning.
• Opposes of the expansion of LGBTQ+ civil rights, voted against a non-empoylent discrimination act, and opposes both same sex marriage and civil unions.

Senator Kamala Harris

• She was born on October 27 and is 55 years old. She is married to Douglas Emhoff who is a lawyer.
• She attended Howard University as an undergraduate and UC Hasting College of Law.
• Her political background includes working as the deputy district attorney for Oakland (1990-98), attorney general of California (2011-2017), as a senator for California, and former presidential candidate.
• As candidate Joe Biden’s pick for Vice President she is the first black woman to appear on a major party’s presidential ticket.
• She is the first Indian American to serve as a U.S. Senator as well as the second African American woman.
• During her time as district attorney she was most known for her toughness on crime and prosecuted cases of gang violence, drug trafficking, and sexual abuse. The conviction rate jumped from 52% to 67% during her tenure.
• She advocates for healthcare reform, legalization of marijuana, path for citizenship for undocumonted immigrants, a ban on assault weapons, and a progreesive tax.
• In 2004 Harris declined to pursue the death penalty against the man who murdered San Francisco police officer Isaac Espinoza.
• She vocally supported a controversial 2010 law that made truancy a misdemeanor and punished parents who failed to send their children to school.
• She created Open Justice, an online platform to make criminal justice data available to the public. The database helped improve police accountability by collecting information on the number of deaths and injuries of those in police custody.

Discussion Questions:

1. Does the vice presidential candidate have an impact on how you will vote?
2. Should previous policy actions impact evaluation of candidates if they have changed their views?
3. What did you learn by watching the debate or joining in the discussion?
4. How did media coverage influence your assessment of the debate or of the candidates’ performance?
5. How did online conversations and social media posts influence your assessment of the debates or of the candidates’ performance?
6. How have the candidates previous political experiences affected your perceptions and evaluations of the candidates?
7. Is a vice president’s support for their running mate important to you? Or do you respect a candidate who may speak out against what their running mate has done or said?
8. Did you learn anything new about either candidate or the topics they discussed, and if so what?
9. What was your biggest takeaway from the debate?

Background on Potential Debate Topics

Below are some key facts and information to consider as you watch the debate and hear responses from the candidates about potential topics.

Foreign Policy

• Rejoining the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) involving Iran and its nuclear program.
• North Korea and making a deal that imposes partial sanctions relief in exchange for dismantling of nuclear weapons or full denuclearization.
• Russian aggression against Ukraine.
• Troops that still remain in Afghanistan: Should there be a full withdrawal or certain conditions met before the complete withdrawal? Should there be an established government and or rule of law that emphasizes democracy or is it more essential to bring troops home?
• Support of a two-state solution to the Isreali-Palenstain conflict, how would this be achieved?
• The United States has been embarking on a comprehensive program on modernizing nuclear strike force- new strategic bombs, ICBMs, missile launching submarines…etc. Cost is to exceed $1 trillion dollars, both the Obama and Trump administrations have been proactively continuing this project. COVID-19 has demonstrated that having a global-spanning dominant military force with immense military spending doesn’t help keep Americans safe due to pressing issues that we face including this pandemic and climate change.
• U.S.-China relationship. The United States government has declared we are in an existential struggle for survival with China.
• NAFTA has been replaced with the USMCA.
• Russian interference in the 2020 election is one of the national security top priorities. Russia has been targeting social media platforms and targeting Joe Biden, tweeting and using other platforms to spread a false narrative- connected to a network called PeaceData.

Immigration Facts

• Record number of 44.8 million immigrants living in the United States in 2018, making up 13.7% of the nation’s population.
• European, Canadian, and North American immigrants make up 13% of the foregin born population in the U.S. compared to 28% born in Asia, 25% born in Mexico, 25% born in Latin American and 9% born in a different region
• European, Canada, and other North American immigrants tend to be older with a median age around 53-54.
• 73% of immigrants have lived in the U.S. for over 10 years.
• US born children of immigrants make up 12% of the nation’s population.
• 37%  of immigrants speak English “very well,” meaning fluently.
• Spanish is the most spoken non-english language 42% of immigrants speak Spanish, while 6% speak Chinese, 5% Hindu, 4% Filipeno, 3% Vietnamese, 3% French, and 2% Dravidian.
• The nation’s immigrant population that doesn’t have official documents stands at about 10.5 million. The number of people waiting for a green card within and outside the United States is roughly 3.6 million as reported by the state department. Immigrants who held green cards for 8 years before becoming US citizens took on average 6-10 years to naturalize into the United States.
• A majority of Americans oppose the idea of a border wall, three quarters of the public support more border patrol agents.
• In 2019, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement deported 267,258 individuals and arrested 143,099 individuals
• As of September 30, 2019, approximately 652,880 individuals had active DACA status, according to USCIS.
• In FY 2019, preliminary estimates show an estimated 84,000 affirmative asylum applications were received by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)—20 percent fewer than the 105,472 in FY 2018.
• In FY 2019, the annual number of nonimmigrant visas issued by the State Department decreased for the fourth time since 2015, to 8.7 million—a 3 percent decline from the 9 million issued in FY 2018.
• Fifteen percent of immigrants were poor (that is, with family incomes below the official poverty threshold), compared to 13 percent of the U.S.-born population.
• In 2018, approximately 57 percent of U.S. immigrants had private health insurance (compared to 69 percent of the U.S. born), and 30 percent had public health insurance coverage (compared to 37 percent of U.S. born population).
• Immigrants constituted 17 percent (28.4 million) of the civilian labor force.
• Between April 19th 2018 and May 31st 2018, the Trump Administration separated 2,000 children from their parents at the border with no clear plan in place for reunification.
• The Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance” policy led to the separation of families at the border and was used to deter immigrants from crossing the border, however evidence shows that this policy had the opposite impact on border crossing. Many migrants are choosing to travel now before policies become stricter.
• News reports showed that hundreds of children were being kept in cages at a warehouse in Texas as a result of the administration’s zero-tolerance policy.

COVID-19

• As of September 2020,  there have been 7.1 million reported cases of COVID-19 in the United States, with about 204,000 deaths, especially impacting elderly, minority, and low-income populations.
• There is discrepancy on how masks and quarantine phases should be enforced, or if they should be enforced at all. There is also discrepancy on if regulations should be enforced at the state or federal level, with many states differing on how they should control their own outbreaks and inter-state travel.
• A Pew Research Center survey found that 62% of voters say the Coronavirus outbreak and the response to it is a major factor in who they will vote for.
• In regards to a vaccine for this virus, the New York Times has reported that we are not likely to get one until next year, according to health officials and companies supporting the vaccine trials. Also, this vaccine will be in very short supply for the first few months following its release to the public, according to CDC Director Dr. Redfield.
• A new Pew Research Center survey finds that, overall, one-in-four adults have had trouble paying their bills since the coronavirus outbreak started, a third have dipped into savings or retirement accounts to make ends meet, and about one-in-six have borrowed money from friends or family or gotten food from a food bank.
• It was announced October 2nd that President Trump tested positive for COVID-19 causing the stock market to plummet.

The Economy

• The COVID-19 pandemic has caused massive economic disruption, and the government’s response has pushed the federal budget further out of balance than it’s been in nearly eight decades.
• In August, the unemployment rate was still at about 13.6 million, with many job layoffs and closed businesses.
• Earlier this year, some people received a stimulus check, and were allowed to push off loans and payments. Currently, some who are still unemployed are struggling to pay rent or other bills.
• According to economists, globally we have entered a “short recession,” which may be recoverable if COVID-19 cases begin to come down.
• The U.S. Senate considered giving another stimulus check before election day, but it did not receive enough votes.
• According to a Pew Research Center survey, 79% of voters this election say that the economy will be a very important factor in their decision for who to vote for.

Supreme Court

• Supreme court judges are nominated by the President and can be confirmed or denied by the Senate. A court hearing is held by the Senate to discuss the nominee’s records and qualifications. Nominees are often law school graduates who were previously serving in a circuit court.
• As of 2020, the number of Senate votes needed to confirm a nominee is 51. The number of people serving on the bench is decided by the president and Senate, and nine is not stated in the Constitution or any formal document.
• The number of nominees each president has appointed has declined throughout history, with many early presidents nominating as many as nine or more. The last six presidents have all nominated five or less.  Through the early 20th century, the nomination was debated only within a small committee.
• The Senate hasn’t confirmed an “election year nominee since 1932.”
• At least 52% of the American public wants to wait until after the election to fill the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat.
• In 2016, the Senate pushed to wait until after the 2016 Election to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia. Some see the parallels between these two situations, as at the time, the 2016 nomination for Merrick Garland was not confirmed, and former President Barack Obama was not able to appoint a judge.
• Once a judge is voted on by the Senate and becomes a member of the Supreme Court, they serve until they die, which is why the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is under a lot of controversy in whether it should be filled before the election or not, as it has lasting impact for decades to come.

Racial Justice

• About 93% of racial justice protests in the US since the death of George Floyd have been peaceful and nonviolent, according to a new report by ACLED.
• America has seen a new wave of protests since a Kentucky grand jury brought no charges against Louisville police for Breonna Taylor’s death for Breonna Taylor.
• Support for racial protests has varied greatly, particularly among different racial and ethnic groups. In July, the majority of Americans supported the protests, but by September, that number had fallen.
• The Pew Research Center found  that as racial justice protests have intensified following the shooting of Jacob Blake, public support for the Black Lives Matter movement has declined, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. A majority of U.S. adults (55%) now express at least some support for the movement, down from 67% in June amid nationwide demonstrations sparked by the death of George Floyd. The share who say they strongly support the movement stands at 29%, down from 38% three months ago.
• A survey done by the University of Massachusetts found that 51% of American adults believe that African Americans are treated less fairly by police than whites in their interaction with police, with 41% stating that each race is treated the same by police, showing a slight majority of Americans believing the country is not fair racially in regards to policing.

The Integrity of the Election

• Tens of millions of Americans intend to vote by mail this year.
• Numerous independent studies and government reviews find voter fraud extremely rare in all forms, including mail-in voting.
• Forty-six states offer access to some form of mail voting to all voters, according to a recent report from the nonprofit Open Source Election Technology Institute. Forty-four states have signature verification protocols for mail ballots.
• Nine states and Washington, D.C., will automatically mail ballots to voters — but only to those who are registered.
•  A recent Pew Research Center poll found that more than 70% of Americans think any voter who wants to vote by mail should be able to do so.
• The Director of the FBI, Christopher Wray, recently testified before the Senate that there has been no visible coordinated voter fraud effort.
•  The Brennan Center for Justice recently published a paper combining multiple studies by various research institutes, newspapers, and government investigations and found that incidences of voter fraud are extremely rare between 0.00004 percent and 0.0009 percent. While instances of voter fraud have occured in extremely low numbers, they are generally far too small to have any impact on the results of an election.
• Numerous studies have found little evidence that mail-in ballots help one party over another. Of the 16 states where more than half of voters voted by mail in the last presidential election, President Trump won nine. Republican states like Iowa, Missouri and Alabama have expanded mail-in ballots this year.
• Forty-four states have a constitutional provision guaranteeing secrecy in voting (AK, AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DE, FL, GA, HI, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, MT, NC, ND, NE, NM, NV, NY, OH, PA, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, WA, WI, WV, WY). The six remaining states, and the District of Columbia, have statutory provisions referencing secrecy in voting (DC, NH, NJ, OK, OR, RI, VT).
• All 50 states and the District of Columbia have legislated specific exemptions to secret voting, mostly to allow voters with disabilities to request assistance in the voting booth, should they wish it
• President Trump specifically cited two instances in Pennsylvania as examples of fraud. Pennsylvania officials refuted both of those claims publicly.