Empty seats at JD Vance rally draws ridicule as GOP and Democrats fight over crowd size

BYRON CENTER, MICHIGAN: Ohio Senator and GOP vice presidential candidate JD Vance's campaign rally in Michigan on Wednesday, August 14, had empty seats glaringly standing out at a time when both Republicans and Democrats have made crowd size at their rallies a fighting issue in the run-up to the November election.

"If I'm being generous, that looks like 10 rows of 10 seats across on each side. So about a total of 200 people potentially?" reported a tech correspondent Chris O'Brien on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter).

Photographs of the event shared by commenter Alex Cole and Washington Post reporter Meryl Kornfield showed empty seats in the back row, but the latter noted that some supporters were standing under the shade of nearby trees.

"The photo of a virtually empty Vance rally going around doesn’t accurately depict the crowd size now. Pretty much every seat is full and there are attendees hanging out in shady areas that aren’t in this photo," Cornfield captioned her post, but failed to convince her followers of the event's success.

In response to her post, political scientist David Darmofal replied, "This still looks like a very bad turnout for a Vice Presidential nominee's event. Maybe they're under the shady trees. But it's not like there's a lot of seats there to begin with."

Crowd size a contesting point in the 2024 race

According to RawStory, the size of the crowd at campaign rallies has recently turned into a key talking point, as Democratic supporters have started flocking to the rallies, reenergized by the fresh pairing of Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov Tim Walz at the top of the party ticket.

The shift in the mood in his rival's campaign has reportedly bothered former President and GOP nominee Donald Trump, who first lashed out by claiming that his 'Stop the Steal' rally on January 6, 2021, drew more people than was present at Dr Martin Luther King Jr's 'I Have A Dream' speech. Trump and his supporters had further claimed that the crowd photographs from the Kamala Harris-Tim Walz campaign rally were augmented with AI, but the statement has since been debunked by experts.

Internet mocks JD Vance for empty seats at his rally

Social media users trolled Vance campaign for failing to draw more people to their rally while reacting to the image of empty seats at the event on X. The following examples demonstrate the prevalent takes.

"The reason why JD does so many interviews is because he can’t pull a crowd like Kamala & Walz," wrote a user.

"More and more every day it appears the Trump campaign is broke," shared another.

"JD attracts 21 people. His only hope is interviews. And yes, he's a weirdo," echoed a third.

"They only pay enough for people to show up for a few minutes," quipped a fourth.

"This is my man! Go JD! Huge crowd! Thousands! As far as the eye can see!" mocked a fifth user.

"There are tens of people waiting patiently to hear Vance be creepy!" expressed a sixth, sharing another picture.

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.