you've latched on to some academic sense of the term but I understood exactly what the person you're replying to meant. They mean: are these people you would respect and trust to be in charge of things? What would they do? And a lot of people's vibe-check says it's a big unknown question mark, or worse, which is not something you can put faith in.
It's hard to argue with vibes which is what makes today's culture war based politics so difficult to weigh in on conclusively. It's all just vibes after all. One person's vibes can be cap to someone else.
