It may have been difficult to get a word in during the vice presidential debate between Republican Gov. Mike Pence and Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, but both men fought to defend their individual agendas as well as their running mates’. How did Pence fare with the facts last night? Here are a few takeaways from the governor’s performance:
“We cut unemployment in half.” True.
At the start of his tenure as governor, unemployment in Indiana was roughly nine percent. In August, the unemployment rate was 4.5 percent.
“There are millions more people in poverty today than the day Barack Obama” became president. Half true, half false.
Though the rate has fluctuated throughout Obama’s presidency, there are currently 43.1 million people living in poverty in 2015. There were 42.8 million people who lived in poverty in 2009 when Obama took office.
“We would never support legislation that punishes women” for abortions. False.
In an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, Trump said women who receive abortions should have some sort of punishment, though he later recanted. Though the abortion legislation Pence signed earlier this year does not charge women, it does require disciplinary action for doctors who perform abortions.
“He praised Vladimir Putin as a great leader.” Kaine on Pence. Partially true.
After Trump praised the Russian president, Pence said in a CNN interview that “Putin has been a stronger leader in his country than Barack Obama has been in this country.”
Sources: bls.gov/eag/eag.in, census.gov, iga.in.gov/legislative, cnn.com
