Voters look ahead to the vice presidential debate

CHICOPEE, Mass. (WWLP) - The vice presidential candidates will square-off Thursday in their first and only debate.

22News spoke to voters to find out what their thoughts are ahead of this event.

With less than a month away from Election Day it's now Vice President Joe Biden and Congressman Paul Ryan's turn to debate.

The two will take center stage at Centre College in Kentucky Thursday night. And the stakes are high.

Right now the latest polls from Pew Research have found that 51% of registered voters see Vice President Biden unfavorably, compared to the 39% who support him.

However, 44% of voters gave Ryan positive views, while another 44% view him unfavorably. Experts say it still could be anyone's game.

But the question is: who will be watching? Even though it's important to tune into every debate, many voters told 22News that they believe the vice-presidential debate tends to be overlooked by most Americans.

Christopher Rodriguez of Amherst just turned 18 and is ready to vote.

He feels this debate is just as crucial as the presidential debates since the V-P is technically the back-up choice to the commander-in-chief.

“If anything happens to the President--hopefully not--we want to know what will happen, what the Vice-President plans to do,” said Christopher Rodriguez.

“I also think that the vice-president, a lot of times, can be an arbitrator in between the Congress and Senate and the President…. So I think that it's important to know that person just as well as we know the President,” Kathleen Mcewan of Agawam.

The debate beings at 9 p.m. You can watch it live right here on WWLP.com or on air on 22News.