Vices Beat Leaders in Ratings

While the second presidential debate may have done a bit better than the first in ratings, it was still no match to the Joe Biden-Sarah Palin matchup. On Tuesday, October 7, 63.2 million viewers watched Barack Obama and John McCain debate in Nashville, reports Nielsen. This total represents the viewership for 11 different networks. Their first debate, on September 26, was watched by 52.4 million viewers. Ratings are determined by Nielsen who tallies the viewership on ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, Telemundo, Univision, BBC-America, CNBC, CNN, Fox News Channel, and MSNBC.

While the presidential debate numbers are nothing to laugh about, their running mates did nothing short of stellar in their one meeting. Sen. Biden and Gov. Palin came up with 70 million viewers during their only debate on October 2. Those numbers make it the second most-watched political debate ever, behind only the 80.6 million for the 1980 Carter-Reagan debate.

The current presidential candidates will be having their third and last debate on October 15 at Hofstra University in Hempsted, N.Y.

Source: Associated Press