The third debate of the Republican presidential primary saw viewership decline even though it was broadcast on television, suggesting low interest in non-Trump candidates and the Republican primaries.
The Hollywood Reporter reported on the debate hearing:
The Republican debate aired on NBC (but not cable siblings MSNBC or CNBC) and attracted 7.5 million viewers across the network, Peacock and other streaming and digital platforms. This is down from 9.5 million during the second debate on Fox News, Fox Business and Univision on September 27. NBC slightly exceeded the total for Fox News alone (6.86 million viewers versus 6.69 million) in the last debate; Streaming and digital platforms accounted for the remaining 640,000 viewers.
The September event, meanwhile, dropped 13 million viewers for the first debate of the cycle, also on Fox News and Fox Business. An hour of analysis after the debate brought together an average of 3.2 million viewers.
As I wrote in October, it is increasingly clear thatTrump killed the enthusiasm of Republican votersn the first states with a presidential primary.
Republicans don’t seem very excited about the election, and the lack of enthusiasm has a lot to do with the party frontrunner spending more time obsessing over his criminal charges than he spent during the election campaign to interact with voters.
Asset fatigue is a very real problem within the Republican Party. 2024 will be the third consecutive election where Donald Trump is the leading contender for the Republican presidential nomination.
Republicans will still vote for Trump, but their lack of enthusiasm could become a major problem for the Republican Party in 2024.
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Jason is the editor-in-chief. He is also a member of the White House Press Panel and a Congressional Correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason holds a bachelor’s degree in political science. His graduate studies focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
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