Vance's debate answer on immigration crisis shows voter polarization in real time responses

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Voters react to JD Vance's stance on immigration crisis during debate: 'Stop the bleeding'

Democrats, Independents and Republican voters react in real-time to Ohio Senator JD Vance's argument for deporting illegal immigrants during Tuesday night's CBS News Vice Presidential Debate. Credit: CBS

Ohio Sen. JD Vance’s argument that the U.S. needed to "stop the bleeding" at the border during Tuesday’s debate elicited a mixed response from voters.

"Before we talk about deportations, we have to stop the bleeding," Vance argued during Tuesday’s debate. "We have a historic immigration crisis because Kamala Harris started and said that she wanted to undo all of Donald Trump’s border policies."

According to Fox News debate dials, which measure how Republican, Democrat, and independent voters are responding to particular answers by candidates during the debate, the response by Vance received mixed responses.

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Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) participates in a debate at the CBS Broadcast Center on October 1, 2024 in New York City. This is expected to be the only vice presidential debate of the 2024 general election. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

While Republican views of Vance’s answers had an immediate positive response, Democratic viewers of the debate went in an opposite direction, the dials showed. Independents, meanwhile, hovered around 50% approval with Vance’s answer.

Voters began to see Vance’s response in a more positive light when he touched on former President Donald Trump’s border policies, arguing that the next administration should return to handling the border similar to how Trump did during his four years in office.

NEW YORK - OCTOBER 01: Republican vice presidential candidate, Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), and Democratic vice presidential candidate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, participate in a debate at the CBS Broadcast Center on October 1, 2024 in New York City. This is expected to be the only vice presidential debate of the 2024 general election. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) (Getty Images)

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"You’ve gotta reimplement Donald Trump’s border policies, build the wall, reimplement deportations," Vance said, garnering an improved response from independent voters and a very positive response from Republicans. Meanwhile, Democratic voters remained sour on the Ohio senator’s answer.

Voters also responded well to Vance’s remarks on deportation, where the Ohio Senator argued in favor of focusing on those who have committed crimes in addition to crossing the border illegally.

Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks during a vice presidential debate hosted by CBS News, with Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

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"We start with the criminal migrants," Vance said on deportations, gaining a strongly positive response from Republicans, a mostly positive response from independents, and an improved response among Democratic voters. "About a million of those people have committed some form of crime in addition to crossing the border illegally, I think you start for deportations on those folks."

Fox News' Sophia Compton and Brooke Curto contributed to this report.