The first presidential debate of the 2024 campaign season garnered about 51.3 million viewers, marking a significant decrease from previous debates and the smallest audience since the 2004 debate between John Kerry and President George W. Bush. Despite being slightly higher than CNN’s estimate of 47.9 million viewers, Nielsen’s audience figures showed a 30% drop from the first Biden-Trump debate in 2020, which attracted 73 million viewers. This recent debate ranked just above the third Bush-Kerry debate in terms of viewership, trailing behind debates from the 2008, 2012, and 2016 campaigns according to data from Nielsen.
While the debate maintained a substantial TV audience, it faced a decline in viewership compared to previous election cycles. Despite this, CNN noted that the event was the highest-rated broadcast in the network’s history and its most streamed program. Additionally, it was identified as the most-watched non-sports program of the year thus far. The debate was broadcast across major news networks like NBC, ABC, CBS, and Fox, as well as streamed on various digital platforms, generating discussions about the future of the Democratic candidate, Joe Biden.
The debate’s viewership numbers have sparked conversations about the potential for Joe Biden to step down as the Democratic presidential candidate, though the process of replacing him on the ballot presents significant challenges. As the story continues to develop, the debate’s impact on the 2024 election cycle and the political landscape remains a topic of interest and speculation across various platforms and news outlets.
