Only around a third of the US is positively inclined towards the Republican vice candidate JD Vance, shows a compilation of opinion polls. Over 40 percent are negatively inclined.
Vance's counterpart among the Democrats, Tim Walz, has better figures – over 37 percent are positively inclined towards him, while around a third are negative.
During Vance's first month as a candidate, several controversies have surfaced. In the US, the discussions are heated: has Trump really chosen the right person for the job?
Criticized Harris
In a dug-up and heavily criticized clip from an interview in 2021, Vance attacked childless women, specifically within the Democrats.
In practice, this country is ruled by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are bitter about their lives and the choices they've made, he said to Fox News, giving Kamala Harris – now the Democratic presidential candidate – as an example.
The clip is said to have caught many Republicans off guard. Several of them were according to Politico already worried that Vance hadn't been vetted enough before the nomination.
He was the only choice that wasn't safe. And I think everyone has realized that now, says an anonymous Republican in the House of Representatives to Axios.
Less voting rights for childless
In an attempt to clean up the mess, Vance claimed that the point of the cat lady comment was to show that Democrats are "against families". But the controversies have piled up as more old clips have surfaced.
In
, Vance argued that people with children should get extended voting rights – a statement he last week downplayed as a "thought experiment". In the same year, he insinuated that people should stay in unhappy marriages for the sake of the children, even when there is violence.Trump has defended his running mate during the turmoil, but a number of analysts believe that Vance has become a liability. Now they're wondering if Trump might replace him. If Vance gets fired, it would be the first time in 50 years that something like this happens.
The Trump campaign staff has, however, repeatedly emphasized that Trump is satisfied and not considering replacing Vance.
James David Vance, originally Bowman, was born in Middletown, Ohio on August 2, 1984.
In the book "Hillbilly – a family and culture in crisis" (2016), he describes his upbringing in the white working class as poor and problem-filled, with a mother who struggled with alcohol and drug abuse.
After high school, he enlisted and served during the Iraq War. He then studied political science and philosophy at Ohio State University and law at the top university Yale. Worked at a law firm and later as a venture capitalist for an investment firm in California.
Married to Usha Vance, whose parents immigrated from India. The couple met during their studies at Yale. As late as 2014, Usha Vance was registered as a Democrat.
Earlier, JD Vance was a sharp critic of Donald Trump, but made a complete turnaround around 2020.
JD Vance was elected as a Republican senator for Ohio in 2022. In July 2024, he was appointed as Donald Trump's vice presidential candidate at the Republican convention in Milwaukee, reportedly after persuasion from Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr.
