Eliza Collins

USA TODAY

Forget the traditional attack dog role of the vice president. An 11-year-old at a campaign event with Mike Pence would like to know whether his job would be “softening up on Mr. Trump’s policies and words.”

At a rally in Raleigh, N.C., on Thursday, an 11-year-old named Matthew said, “I’ve been watching the news lately and I’ve been noticing that you’ve been kind of softening up on Mr. Trump’s policies and words. Is this gonna be your role in the administration?”

After laughing off the question and telling the kid that he had a future in politics, the Indiana governor said that he and Trump stood as equals even with different communication styles.

“What I’ve learned Matthew — and you’ll learn it when you’re governor of North Carolina, I’m not kidding about that — is sometimes things don’t always come out like you mean, and Donald Trump and I are absolutely determined to work together. We have different styles you might have noticed that,” Pence said. “Differences in style, Matthew, should never be confused with differences in conviction.”

“Donald Trump has the right vision for America, he has the right policies for America, and I’m going to fight every day to tell his story all across the United States, and I’m going to work at his side to make those ideas into the policies that will make America great again,” he added.

Pence's explanation comes following a few notable breaks between Donald Trump and his running mate. Most recently, Trump said that he was "not quite there yet" on endorsing House Speaker Paul Ryan in his re-election, while Pence threw his support behind the Wisconsin Republican.

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