More than 43.15 million viewers tuned in to watch Tuesday’s vice presidential debate across 15 networks, according to Nielsen ratings.
The debate was the fourth least watched of the 12 vice presidential debates throughout the presidential cycles.
The four big broadcast networks and CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC accounted for more than 38 million viewers, the Hollywood Reporter wrote:
Prior to Tuesday, the 11 vice presidential debates from 1976-2020 averaged about 46.5 million viewers (no VP debate took place in 1980).
CBS News produced the debate, which was moderated by Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan, and the network had the largest audience of any individual outlet with 9.14 million viewers, based on preliminary numbers. Fox News placed second with 7.69 million viewers, followed by ABC (6.1 million), NBC (5.44 million), MSNBC (4.65 million), CNN (3.18 million) and the Fox broadcast network (2.42 million). Fox Business added 255,000 more viewers; the remainder of the audience was spread among Merit Street Media, Scripps News, CNNe, NBC Universo, Newsmax, NewsNation and PBS.
Past VP debates have ranged from a high of 69.9 million viewers in 2008 (Joe Biden and Sarah Palin) to a low of 26.6 million in 1996 (Al Gore and Jack Kemp). Since 1976, their average audience is about 25 percent smaller than those for presidential debates.
Wendell Husebo is a political reporter with Breitbart News and a former RNC War Room Analyst. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality. Follow Wendell on “X” @WendellHusebø or on Truth Social @WendellHusebo.
