NEW YORK — Tuesday night’s presidential debate on CNN was the highest-rated ever for Democrats, even while attracting a smaller TV audience than two Republican contests.
The debate averaged 15 million total viewers, CNN said Wednesday, citing Nielsen Fast National ratings data. The Sept. 16 Republican debate on CNN drew about 23 million viewers, the most ever for an event aired by the network. An Aug. 6 Republican contest on Fox attracted even more, a record of 24 million.
The debate, hosted by Anderson Cooper at the Wynn Las Vegas resort and casino, marked the first sparring match between former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who together accounted for almost 60 percent of the moderator questions and speaking time.
For the Democrats, the debate record was last set in 2008 when Clinton and President Barack Obama went head-to-head on ABC. That telecast averaged almost 11 million viewers.
Last month’s Republican candidate showdown was pumped up by billionaire Donald Trump and his controversial remarks about Mexican immigrants and women. CNN’s Tuesday telecast did manage to score a larger online audience, however. As many as 980,000 people live-streamed the event, CNN said. The GOP debate in September drew 921,000 concurrent online viewers.
It’s not surprising that the Democratic debate attracted a bigger Internet audience, since young people are more apt to lean Democrat and stream video content over the web, said CNN, which is owned by Time Warner Inc.
Clinton and Sanders, the two Democratic front-runners, were far more aggressive than their on-stage counterparts in attacking Republicans and Wall Street, according to an analysis of CNN rush transcripts conducted by Bloomberg Politics in partnership with Adam Tiouririne of Logos Consulting Group.
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