While many Americans remain unimpressed with the presidential candidates for the November election, voters are apparently more willing to hear the opposing views of Kamala Harris and Donald Trump than they are to listen to the former president debate Joe Biden.
The two nominees held their first and possibly last debate on Tuesday September 10. Over 67 million people are believed to have tuned in to watch the event, marking a bigger audience of 31% compared to the June 2024 debate between Biden and Trump. Neither event had a live, studio audience, and the summer debate resulted in the president suspending his re-election campaign.
The Trump-Harris debate was hosted by ABC News and aired on a total of 17 networks for the country to tune in. In June, only 51.3 million people watched the disastrous debate between Biden and Trump. Even with its increase in viewing numbers, this week’s debate still fell significantly short of the presidential debate viewership record, which is held by the 84 million who watched Trump take on Hillary Clinton in 2016.
In 2020, the first Trump-Biden debate was watched by over 73 million. Data also shows that the September 10 debate saw a notable increase in viewers between ages 18 and 49, with 53% more in this age group watching the Trump-Harris debate compared to his event with Biden in June. The most viewed network was Fox News, which charted just over nine million people watching the debate.
According to viewers, Harris won the debate, as 63% said that she performed better than her opponent. Before the event took place, the same voters polled equally at 50% when asked which candidate would win.
Meanwhile, Trump maintains his confidence in declaring that he won the debate—a statement that has been contradicted by some Republicans. One official said that his lack of awareness to know that “he’s being baited” and act accordingly “is constantly baffling.” One of the former president’s advisors said that, “without question,” the debate was “not his best performance.”
He added that Trump portrayed himself well enough to avoid “losing any votes,” but added that the debate’s impact will not last long and noted that voters will be looking on to “what’s next.”
