The first debate between US President Joe Biden and his predecessor, Donald Trump, gathered 47.9 million viewers on Thursday evening, all channels combined, a sharply lower result compared to the previous campaign's primary debate.
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The program, produced by CNN and presented by two journalists from the channel, shows a deficit of 35% compared to 73.1 million viewers for the September 29, 2020 debate, in which the same candidates opposed.
For its part, the second debate of the 2020 presidential election attracted 63 million people.
Despite the decline, Thursday's show's audience was the best performance of 2024, excluding sports events on U.S. television, CNN reported in a press release.
CNN, the network organizing the event, had offered other channels to broadcast it, as did all major American stations, including its competitor, Fox News.
CNN alone had 9.04 million viewers, ahead of Fox News (8.8), according to the channel’s figures. Adding its website, which also airs the debate for free, and its other channels, the news channel reached 11.4 million people.
This latter figure is much higher (+27%) than CNN's score during the first debate of 2020.
The debate marked a turning point for Joe Biden, who appeared confused and incomprehensible at times, a performance that contrasted with the usual pugnacity of Donald Trump.
The American media reported a wave of anxiety in the Democratic camp, while many editorial writers believed that the time had come for the American president to surrender. Joe Biden ruled out this scenario on Friday.
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