ABC News’ broadcast of Tuesday’s presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump drew more than 67 million viewers, according to ratings data from Nielsen.
The highly anticipated showdown — which saw 67.1 million viewers on 17 networks, including ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, Fox and CNN — surpassed the eyeballs drawn by President Biden’s debate against Trump in June, which drew 51.3 million.
ABC News, which hosted Tuesday’s debate, drew 19 million viewers, followed by Fox-owned channels Fox News and Fox Business with a total of 14.2 million viewers. NBC drew 10.1 million, while CBS pulled in 6.2 million. MSNBC and CNN drew 6.4 and 4.4 million, respectively.
Prospective voters were eager to see how Harris would fare against Trump after President Biden’s disastrous performance, which was the catalyst for the 46th President’s decision not to run for a second term and handed the reins to his vice president.
Despite the Harris-Trump debate’s strong viewership, it fell short of the 73.1 million who watched Biden and Trump’s first presidential debate, moderated by Fox News’ Chris Wallace, four years ago.
This time, viewers tuned in to see Trump, 78, take on Harris, 59, who won the Democratic presidential nomination last month.
The 45th president appeared shocked at times as Harris claimed that military leaders had told her that Trump was a “disgrace,” that world leaders were “laughing” at him and even claimed that “people start leaving rallies early.” him from fatigue and boredom”. after he was “downloaded by 81 million people” in 2020.
During the 90-minute debate, Trump traded barbs with Harris on abortion, foreign policy and crime, while ABC News anchors David Muir and Lindsey Davis periodically stepped in to check in on him — to the dismay of Republicans, who snapped that the Democratic candidate took a lighter touch on her controversial statements.
When Trump argued that crime in the U.S. is rising because of immigrants being allowed into the country on Harris’ schedule, “World News Tonight” anchor David Muir interjected: “President Trump, as you know, the FBI says that overall crime in violently descending.”
The Republican candidate responded with his fact-check that “they didn’t include the worst crime cities,” referring to the lack of data from Los Angeles, New York City and Chicago.
The 45th president was also corrected when he said President Biden “sent [Harris] in to negotiate with [Ukraine President Volodymyr] Zelensky and [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, and she did, and the war started three days later, and that’s the kind of talent we have with him,” referring to the work that was deployed in Europe in February 2022 to prevent the Kremlin’s invasion of Kiev.
Muir asked Harris, “Vice President Harris, have you ever met Vladimir Putin?” — with Harris citing it as one of Trump’s “lies.”
Harris’ performance was much stronger than Biden’s dismal showing in June that stoked Democratic fears of a landslide Trump victory — with the former prosecutor sidestepping major gaffes and avoiding potentially damaging questions about her record and attitudes. developing on a number of key issues.
Ahead of Tuesday night’s debate, Trump allies and Republican commentators focused on Harris’ close friendship with Dana Walden, a senior Disney executive whose portfolio includes ABC News, and questioned the network’s impartiality.
After the debate, they criticized the ABC News moderators, listing a long list of missed opportunities for Muir and Davis to fact-check Harris, such as when she said Trump had jeopardized access to IVF treatment and that the former President would implemented the provisions of the right-wing Project 2025 governing project, despite Trump repeatedly denying it.
Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) tweeted: “ABC News has refused to ‘fact check’ Kamala Harris for lies about Trump’s positions on: – Project 2025 – Charlottesville comments – ‘Bloodbath’ comments – IVF.”
Meanwhile, Democrats remained vocal about the moderators’ complaints, which they said proved it was a bad night for Trump.
“He wants to be president of the United States, I would hope he can manage some obvious questions,” a former Biden-Harris administration official told The Post, adding that the attacks were “just like ex- the president—always blaming someone else for your failures.”
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