On Wednesday night, NBC News and Salem Media Group conducted the third Republican presidential primary discussion, which attracted much fewer viewers than the previous two debates, which Fox News and Fox Business Network had broadcasted.
Nielsen said that from the 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. debate, NBC got 6.86 million viewers and 1.3 million people in the crucial 25-54 age group. Roughly 12.8 million people watched Fox News broadcast the first debate of this season back in late August. In addition, the target audience of about 2.8 million people watched it. There were 9.3 million overall viewers and 1.89 million in the demo for the second debate that Fox Business Network presented at the end of September.
Donald Trump, who has declined to participate in the debates and blasted the Republican National Committee, may benefit from the dwindling audience size. Trump held his gathering in Florida, near enough to the Miami debate venue to be convenient.
Since Trump is already in the lead, many people wonder why the GOP debates are still being held without him. According to the latest CNN survey, he is leading Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) by 44 points, with a 61% to 17% margin, while the other contenders are even farther behind.
Journalists and political commentators on the left applauded the NBC debate moderators, including Lester Holt, Kristen Welker, and Hugh Hewitt. They could keep the contestants under control and moderate the discussion reasonably and well.
However, Vivek Ramaswamy noted that known left-leaning journalists typically moderate the RNC debates, whereas no right-leaning journalist moderates a DNC debate.
Wednesday night’s discussion had five contenders, whereas the previous two debates included eight and seven contestants.
NBC News promoted its streaming service for the debate, noting that Wednesday night’s primetime audience for NBC News NOW was its highest ever. According to NBC News, approximately 7.5 million people watched the debate across NBC, Peacock, and other streaming and digital platforms.
