United Liberty

It’s almost game time, folks. Vice President Joe Biden will square off tonight in Danville, Kentucky against Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) in the only vice presidential debate of the campaign.

Given Biden’s propencity for gaffes, Republicans are hoping that Ryan will shine. However, Biden has been locked away for four days doing debate prep and Democrats have telegraphed his role, which will be to relentlessly attack the Republican ticket.

While the pressure is on him to help rebound from a poor debate performance by President Obama a week earlier, the strategy employed by Biden could do more harm than good if he doesn’t rattle Ryan as the former’s favorability numbers leave much to be desired:

[A] new poll finds that Vice President Joe Biden is viewed more unfavorably than his GOP rival, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan.

The survey from the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press found that 51% of registered voters see Mr. Biden unfavorably,  compared with 39% who gave him positive reviews. Independent voters largely agreed, with 52% seeing Mr. Biden negatively.

Voters were more evenly divided about Mr. Ryan, who is viewed favorably by 44% and unfavorably by 44%

Ryan’s no slouch when it comes to engaging in discussions on fiscal policy, which will factor in prominently this evening — foreign policy will also be covered, which favors Biden. And like counterpart, Ryan has spent enough enough time prepping for this night and, as I’ve explained before, the way he breaks things down in an easy to understand way works to his advantage. However, I do think more pressure is on him to do well. It’s easy to attack, as Biden will be doing, but it’s hard to maintain momentum in what is becoming a tight race — meaning that there is no room for error.

Get out the popcorn and soda. Or play a drinking game with all the buzzwords you’re likely to hear. It should be a fun night.