Last night’s subdued Republican presidential primary debate has twice as many viewers as the Democratic presidential primary debate the night before.
“According to preliminary national estimates from Nielsen, an average audience of 11.85 million (including 3.67 million in the news demo of adults 25-54) watched the CNN Republican Debate from 9-11 p.m. ET,” Variety says of Thursday night’s GOP debate.
The Democrats got half the viewers on Wednesday night. “Just a few days after airing their last meeting, CNN simulcast Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders’ latest Democratic debate with Univision — and, in the aftermath of the surprise Sanders win in Michigan and the prime Wednesday time slot, the audience was slightly improved. Across both networks, the debate averaged 5.95 million viewers. The breakdown gives CNN two-thirds of that audience with nearly 4 million viewers. And while it outperformed the March 6 event, it was not as high as the last Dem simulcast in February,” reports the Hollywood Reporter.
And while this week’s debate was an improvement for Democrats, it was a decrease for Republicans. More from Variety:
“CNN figures to stand as Thursday’s most-watched network (cable or broadcast), but last night’s debate from Miami ranks as the second smallest of seven GOP gatherings in 2016. (It fares better on the rankings list among adults 25-54, with last night’s total third best of the year).
“Ratings for the Republican debates continue to tower above those for the Democrats, with Thursday’s audience more than double that for the previous night’s Democratic debate on Univision and CNN (a combined 5.954 million). Year-to-date, the Republicans have averaged about 13 million viewers for their seven debates, or nearly double what the Democrats have averaged 6.82 million for their five events.”
