Trump-Harris presidential debate scores 67 million viewers
The first and perhaps only debate between Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, and her Republican rival, former President Trump, was watched by 67.1 million viewers Tuesday, a 30% jump over Trump’s June 27 face-off with President Biden.
The debate held at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia was moderated by ABC News anchors David Muir and Linsey Davis and presented on 17 television networks measured by Nielsen.
The event was marked by feisty exchanges between the nominees, which became increasingly heated after Harris said that Trump supporters were leaving his rallies due to boredom. The evening also differed from the Trump-Biden match-up, in that the moderators fact-checked a number of false statements, nearly all of them from Trump, which frustrated his supporters in post-debate analyses.
The debate was widely considered a chance for CNN to burnish its brand as a trusted purveyor of major news. The event went poorly for President Biden.
The debate was unprecedented as Harris replaced Biden on the Democratic ticket after the president’s poor performance in his meeting with Trump.
ABC had the largest audience of the night, with 19 million viewers, followed by NBC (10 million), Fox News (9.1 million), MSNBC (6.4 million) the Fox broadcast network (4.8 million) and CNN (4.4 million).
The next scheduled debate in the campaign is Oct. 1, when Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, meets his Democratic rival, Minn. Gov. Tim Walz. The event will be moderated by CBS News anchors Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan.
The Harris campaign has expressed its willingness to have a second debate, but Trump has yet to agree.
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