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, shows a deficit of 35% compared to the 73.1 million viewers of the debate on September 29, 2020, which opposed the same two candidates.
The second debate of the 2020 presidential election, for its part, attracted 63 million people.
Despite the decline, Thursday’s show’s audience was the best non-sporting performance on U.S. television in 2024, CNN said in a statement.
Organizer of the event, CNN had offered other channels to broadcast it, 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 latter 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.
