Democratic primary debate television ratings cut in half since first debate

The fourth Democratic presidential debate saw a sharp decline in television ratings compared to the party’s first one in June.

Tuesday night’s debate, which was hosted by CNN and the New York Times, garnered an audience of 8.1 million viewers, according to early Nielsen Media Research. It was the smallest viewership for a presidential debate this election cycle when factoring in that some debates were aired across multiple platforms. CNN did, however, share in a statement that 9.2 million viewers streamed the debate via a number of platforms.