The first debate between American President Joe Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump brought together 47.9 million viewers on Thursday evening, all channels combined, a result down sharply compared to the initial debate of the previous campaign.
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The program, produced by CNN and presented by two journalists from the channel, is showing a deficit of 35% compared to the 73.1 million viewers of the debate of September 29, 2020, which pitted the same two candidates against each other.
The second debate of the 2020 presidential election, for its part, attracted 63 million people.
Despite this decline, the audience for Thursday’s show constitutes the best performance of 2024 excluding sporting events on American television, CNN said in a press release.
The event’s organizer, CNN, had offered to broadcast it to other networks, which all the major American stations did, including its rival Fox News.
CNN alone attracted 9.04 million viewers, ahead of Fox News (8.8), according to the network’s figures. By adding its website, which also broadcast the debate for free, and its other channels, the news channel reached 11.4 million people.
This last figure is significantly higher (+ 27%) than the result obtained by CNN during the first debate of 2020.
The debate marked a turning point for Biden, who appeared confused and at times unintelligible, a performance that contrasted with Donald Trump’s usual pugnacity.
The American media reported a movement of concern in the Democratic camp, while many editorialists considered that the time had come for the American president to throw in the towel. Joe Biden ruled out this scenario on Friday.
