This is an odd election, in that the vice presidential candidates both appear more ‘electable’ than the presidential candidates themselves and that either side could conceivably win more votes if they just reversed the order of their presidential ticket.
Bernie supporters might be more willing to vote Kaine for POTUS than Hillary, and “Never Trump” folks in the GOP might be willing to vote Pence for POTUS. What do you think?
Although I support Hillary, I cannot conceive of Kaine as president. Perhaps mayor of Mayberry, but not president.
Hmm. Interesting question. Kaine has more experience in elective office than Hillary, lacks her considerable political baggage and is a more honest person IMHO. Overall, I would prefer to see Hillary as his running mate, but not so much that I won’t vote for them in their current roles to keep Donald Trump as far away from the White House as possible.
There was similar discussion in 1988, when quite a few centrist Dems came to prefer Lloyd Bentsen to Mike Dukakis. He even got an Electoral College vote: Faithless elector - Wikipedia
Meh. Start scrutinizing them just as closely, and they’ll look just as warty.
There are reasons neither of them even ran for the top office.
I wonder how much people really know about these candidates. I follow the main candidates pretty closely, but I know hardly anything about either Pence or Kaine.
In the case of Pence, I’m not even interested in learning anything more because it’s already obvious that Trump is going to do what he wants to do. Every time Pence says something, Trump contradicts him. Trump will have to die to make Pence relevant.
Kaine is charming up at the podium, but I know even less about him. I’m basically a never-Trump voter anyway, so Trump will have to die to make Kaine relevant, too.
I see a common theme here. We can always hope. 
Not voting. Pence is a colossal dunderhead. Not only do I disagree on all his domestic positions, but he is considered to be stupider than the tossed salad in the House cafeteria.
I don’t know enough about Kaine. Got to “look at him,” in Trumpspeak. My impression is that he is a swell enough liberal Democrat and an engaging personality, but not really Prez material.
I agree. Right now Kaine is the awkwardly nice dad of a friend that you like, but if he was running for the top spot there would be a lot more dirt dug up on him. Compared to Clinton who has had the harsh national spotlight on her for 25 years.
I think Republicans should consider Pence more, considering the reports that Trump basically offered the presidency to Kasich who turned it down. It’s possible Pence won’t be allowed to do anything, but it’s also possible that he’d be like Cheney and doing a lot of the work and Trump just gets to fly around and act presidential.
That would be BAD. I get the impression Pence would ignore foreign policy and most domestic issues (jobs, infrastructure) and focus on getting rid of Roe vs. Wade and repealing gay rights. Also, I think he would not care for the persons of darker shades.
And I shudder at the idea of “Trump flying around and acting presidential,” whatever he conceives that to be. GW Bush just gave Merkel a shoulder massage. Trump might go for a total make-out session.
Right, I agree, that would be very bad. But I guess some Republicans would like that, so maybe nevermind, I’m hoping Republicans don’t consider Pence at all. Should be easy at the moment since Trump does dominate any campaign events.
You know how, in polls, “Generic Republican” always beats any given Democrat, and “Generic Democrat” always beats any given Republican? Well, that’s who the two VP candidates are, right now. Nobody’s taken enough of a look at them to consider them as anything different. And with who we’ve got on the tops of the tickets, that’s not likely to change, either.
Of course, it’s also possible Trump was going to renege, or claim he was joking, or another move we’ve seen him pull – so he’d get the benefits of a Trump/Kasich ticket, and get elected, and then stare at his ready-to-start-presdientin’ VP as if the guy just asked him to keep a promise made by John Barron.
I am from Indiana, and I’m here to tell ya that Pence is a tool, and we are very glad Trump has seen to it he won’t be governor again. Not that he had much of a shot anyway. He was really, really unpopular. Even very Republican neighborhoods have “Dispense Pence” signs up.
This is fascinating.
Despite all the foaming at the mouth about Trump around these parts, when Dopers get right down to it, it’s clear that Trump isn’t the worst possible candidate after all!
I would much prefer to have a Pence presidency than a Trump/Pence administration. Because a Trump/Pence administration would have all the damage from Pence putting forward his super conservative agenda just like a Pence presidency, but it would also have Trump going around saying insulting and offensive things and embarrassing America.
I also would prefer to have Pence as the Republican nominee, since I think he would have less chance of winning, and definitely wouldn’t inspire the same passion in supporters as Trump does.
For clarification, I’m not asking who would be the better POTUS. I’m asking who would get more votes.
I’m not sure I’m agreeing with ya one hundred percent on your police work there, Sherlock. There are a heck of a lot of people who should never be President of the United States.