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For the Democratic Party's candidate, Virginia Senator Tim Kaine, his strategy was to aggressively challenge his opponent, Indiana Governor Mike Pence, over a number of controversial positions and statements made by Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump. In response, Pence chose not to take the bait and chose to let much of Kaine's criticism of Trump go unchallenged. Instead Pence spoke about his party's conservative agenda on tax policy, entitlements and immigration. His spin was geared at painting the Democratic ticket as career politicians unwilling to shake up Washington.
Kaine's debate style involved more interruptions of his opponent, while Pence displayed a calmer demeanor. Kaine was critical of Trump's decision to break with decades of campaign tradition by not releasing his taxes. Pence defended Trump, said that his running mate "used the tax code just the way it's supposed to be used, and he did it brilliantly."
Social and moral issues were discussed in this debate to a significant degree, with Kaine, a Roman Catholic who has consistently voted in favor of abortion rights, asking Pence, "Why doesn't Donald Trump trust women to make this choice for themselves?" Pence stressed his opposition to abortion and said he was "proud to be standing with Donald Trump" on the issue.
On the subject of national security, Kaine was critical of Trump of making complimentary comments about Russian President Vladimir Putin. Pence responded by criticizing Hillary Clinton's record as Secretary of State, saying: "The weak and feckless foreign policy of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama has awakened an aggression in Russia that first appeared in Russia a few years ago. All the while, all we do is fold our arms and say we're not having talks anymore."
A CNN Poll asked voters who they thought won the poll, and 48% said that Pence did, while 42% said that Kaine did.