Preliminary overnight ratings are showing that the debate wasn't as watched as the GOP circus, but it was the most watched Democratic debate EVER! America got a chance to see our great Dems in contrast with the clown show the GOP puts on.
The 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. hours averaged an 11.2 household rating, meaning that 11% of all American homes with TVs were tuned in.
The previous Democratic debate record was set in 2008, when Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama squared off in prime time on ABC. That debate had an 8.9 household rating and 10.7 million total viewers.
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The network's live stream peaked at 980,000 concurrent live streams around 10:20 pm ET, a CNN spokesman said.
That means nearly one million homes were watching simultaneously, surpassing the totals for Trump and Co.
So it looks like we'll have somewhere around 13 million voters including the live stream. Our great candidates got the kind of press coverage that would cost millions of $ and we got it for free! They demonstrated how adults with the ability to govern the country actually discuss issues that are important to Americans.
So the obvious next step is to limit the remaining debates and hold them at times where fewer people will see them. I mean, everyone who's ever been involved in a campaign knows that the way you win is to try and reach fewer voters with a powerful display that shows your opponents are a bunch of clowns compared to your strong ideas and leadership skills.
Sigh
UPDATE: In the comments below a link to a tweet from Brian Stelter is reporting 15.3 million viewers of last night's debate!! That's Yuge!