The Trump vs. Harris Debate Drew Nearly 16 Million More Viewers Than Trump-Biden
Editor’s note: This story has been updated now that Nielsen’s final Live + Same Day numbers are available.
Disney’s ABC News brought the wonderful world of partisan politics to 67.1 million Americans on Tuesday, according to final Nielsen numbers. That’s a massive jump from the CNN-hosted Donald Trump vs. Joe Biden debate in June.
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The Trump-Biden event ended up with 51.3 million viewers across 23 platforms (only 17 are measured by Nielsen), which means nearly 16 million more Americans tuned in to last night’s simulcast. What they saw was a poorer night from Trump (vs. June) and an upgraded performance for the Democrats.
Former President Trump and the current Vice President Kamala Harris squared off at 9 p.m. ET last night from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the original home to our Continental Congress. The debate ran until 10:45 p.m. ET. This one was moderated by ABC News’ “World News Tonight” anchor David Muir and ABC News Live “Prime” anchor Linsey Davis. ABC alone had more than 19 million viewers. It could have had a few more if not for that meddling blackout.
Disney’s channels, including ABC, have been blacked out on DirecTV all month. The two companies are still squabbling over carriage fees.
Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race in July — it was a mere formality for Harris to be announced as his replacement. Her running mate is Minnesota governor Tim Walz, who will take on Trump’s underling J.D. Vance in an October 1 debate.
Trump and Biden had bigger audiences the first time they fought for the White House. Their first presidential debate in 2020 averaged 73.132 million viewers. Hey, it was COVID and we had nothing else to do. A second debate got 62.973 million viewers (better than Trump-Biden in 2024, but not Trump-Harris).
Trump was behind a dais for the most-watched U.S. Presidential Debate in recorded history. Trump vs. Hillary Clinton 1 in 2016 drew 84.0 million viewers. The September sparring match dethroned Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan’s lone 1980 debate, which attracted 80.6 million viewers. There were far fewer alternatives to watch back then.
Election Day is Tuesday, November 5.
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