Like and likeability

By Zach Hagadone
Reader Staff

Does anyone really know what “likeability” means? Of course there’s a dictionary definition, which goes something like, “having qualities that bring about a favorable regard,” but the term’s use as a metric in political campaigning is harder to pin down. 

Yet that word, or some variation of it, was everywhere following the Oct. 1 vice-presidential debate between Republican JD Vance and Democrat Tim Walz — specifically that Ohio Sen. Vance’s central goal during the faceoff was to come off as “likable,” while Minnesota Gov. Walz simply had to remain “likable.”

Taking “likeability” as a measure of “favorability,” the pollster blog “FiveThirtyEight” had fresh numbers on Oct. 2, showing that 45.3% of voters have an “unfavorable opinion” of Donald Trump’s running mate, while 35.8% of voters have a similar feeling about Kamala Harris’ veep pick.

Vance did experience a slight uptick in his favorability following the debate — up .2% since Sept. 30 to 34.8% on Oct. 2. Meanwhile, Walz gained .3% on his favorability score for a total of 40.4%, as of Oct. 2.

For weeks, headlines from around the country referred to polls showing that Vance is perhaps the least-liked vice-presidential candidate of the century — behind even Sarah Palin — and that Walz entered the race head-and-shoulders above his opponent in the hearts and minds of voters. In the hours leading up to the debate, The Los Angeles Times’ headline characterized the televised event as “‘Mad Dad’ Vance vs. ‘Rad Dad’ Walz.” Meanwhile, CNN Senior Data Reporter Harry Enten said that Vance’s abysmal favorability rating has made him, “a drag on the Republican side of the ticket.”

Is it any wonder? You can’t disparage “childless cat ladies” one week then suggest without evidence that immigrants are eating people’s pets and hope to be scoring points with anyone who’s not already in the bag for your candidacy. (What’s next? Childless immigrant cat ladies are eating their cats?)

Vance’s awkward public appearances and utterances are why the nation found so much resonance in Walz’s seemingly offhand comment a few weeks ago that the Trump camp is just plain “weird.” Watch footage from Vance’s bizarre visit to a donut shop in Georgia in early September — where he bumbled through small talk with employees who clearly didn’t want to engage with him, then proceeded to order “just everything … just whatever makes sense” — and try not to call it “weird.”

But Trump says and does things that transgress the normal social functioning of human beings practically every hour of every day, yet he retains a 42.9% favorability rate, according to “FiveThirtyEight” — eight points higher than his running mate. This is even after Trump’s disastrous debate with Harris, in which she rope-a-doped him into ranting and sputtering about his crowd sizes.

During their appearance on Oct. 1, both Vance and Walz appeared amiable enough, shaking hands before and after the debate and even agreeing with one another on occasion throughout. Was that “likable”? Maybe too much.

Walz’s much-touted “Rad Dad” mentality ended up letting “Mad Dad” Vance off the hook more than a few times, with very few challenges to his demonstrably incorrect and absurd statements. Walz only really landed anything on Vance by pointing out that the man he’s committed to serving under was instrumental in the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 and refused to admit that Trump lost in the 2020 election. That shouldn’t be considered brave or even particularly insightful — it’s just the truth.

In those instances, “likeability” did more harm than good to Americans’ ability to differentiate between the good and bad ideas being presented, and no one should “like” that.