like the GOP's policy platform is unpopular as it is *before* you add in Trump's chicanery, which he has converted some amount of them on anyhow. a 'Generic R vs Generic D' election in 2028 would probably 19 times out of 20 go to the Democrat basically regardless of who it is.
I also feel like Trump benefits from people liking him and hating his policies - literal “love the king, hate the king’s advisors”. Vance presumably won’t have the same protection and will be forced to own this broadly-unpopular agenda.
trump doesn't have any true policies and he benefits from that. he believes in 2 things (racism and tariffs) and improvises the rest, which means voters can basically pretend he believes anything. this does not filter down to Vance or whoever because they *do* have policies and bad ones at that!
Yeah totally, Trump is more of a Rorschach test, he’s so unreliable and flaky that people believe whatever they want about him. Vance is definitely an ideologue and his potential ability to communicate clearly could make him easier for voters to pin down.
vance is *also* an ideological chameleon, though. he went from opposing from in the first term to... whatever he is now. though, he's definitely become slightly brain poisoned enough to believe at least some portion of what he says. and the Thiel money helps.