Early ratings show that the debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris drew more viewers than the debate between Trump and Joe Biden.
Many of those viewers were in states where the November elections will be decisive.
Tuesday’s debate, produced by ABC News but simulcast on multiple television and cable networks, drew approximately 57.75 million viewers across the four major television networks: CNN, Fox News, Fox Business and MSNBC.
That’s about 6.5 million more people than the final attendance for the June 27 debate between Trump and Biden in Atlanta.
Viewers who followed Trump and Harris online have not yet been included.
The debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris drew approximately 57.75 million viewers across the four major television networks: CNN, Fox News, Fox Business and MSNBC.
A Fox News reporter reported the ratings: Many viewers came from states where ratings fluctuate: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia (the location of the debate), West Palm Beach (where Trump lives), Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Detroit, New York, Kansas City, St. Louis and Providence.
The audience at Tuesday’s debate was about average size.
Since 1960, 35 presidential debates have been televised (there were no debates in 1964, 1968, and 1972), with an average viewership of approximately 59.1 million.
An exception was the record 84 million viewers for the first debate between Trump and Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Two debates between Biden and Trump during the 2020 election drew an average of 68.05 million viewers.
At the end of Tuesday night’s debate, Harris’ team immediately offered to schedule another debate in October.
Harris was widely seen as the winner. During the showdown, she repeatedly challenged Trump and got under his skin as she talked about the size of his rallies, his criminal trials and the fact that other world leaders don’t like him.
Trump, meanwhile, said he was “less inclined” to run again after rating his own performance excellent.
“Well, I would be less likely to do that, because we had a great night,” Trump said in a phone interview with Fox & Friends on Wednesday morning.
And in a post on his Truth Social account, Trump said Harris is demanding a debate rematch because she was “badly mistreated,” and compared her to a boxer begging for a rematch.
The former president, a fan of Ultimate Fighting Championship, cited a poll he did not identify that slammed Harris, despite other short polls from CNN and DailyMail that showed her as the winner.
“In the world of boxing or the UFC, when a fighter gets knocked out or knocked out, they stand up and scream, ‘I DEMAND A REMATCH, I DEMAND A REMATCH!'” Trump posted online. “Well, it’s no different with a debate. She got beaten big time last night. Every poll has us WINNING, in one case 92-8, so why would I do a rematch?”
Trump complained about the network that presented the questions and the moderators, even claiming, without any evidence, that his rival had seen the questions before.
“We won the debate. We had a terrible, terrible network,” he told Fox, again attacking ABC for its real-time fact-checking of some of his statements.
“I thought they were horrible. They should be ashamed of themselves. I mean, they kept correcting me and I said what I said was mostly right or I hoped it was right. But what they said was absolutely wrong.”
Many viewers of the Trump-Harris debate live in swing states
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Kamala Harris and Donald Trump were together again in New York on Wednesday for the 9/11 attacks; from left to right: Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, Michael Bloomberg, Donald Trump, JD Vance
Trump said they ‘refused to correct Harris’ incorrect statements’. Moderators intervened in his January 6 comments, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and abortion.
“The other one, you know what she said. And they refused to correct it. I even complained a couple of times. Why don’t you correct them? Look, they should have corrected them seven times. She told a flat-out lie. Another one is Project 2025. They know it has nothing to do with me,” Trump said.