57 Million Watched Presidential Debate: Nielsen Estimate

McClatchy:

Preliminary Nielsen data from 55 cities where it operates so-called "people meters," set-top boxes that monitor television viewing, shows that a third of all TV sets were tuned into Friday night's debate between Barack Obama and John McCain. Nielsen won't release final data until Monday, but if the trend from the 55 metered markets holds steady, it would mean about 57 million people watched the debate.

The city with the highest percentage of viewers was St. Louis, where 52 percent of the TVs were tuned to the debate, reflecting either an inordinate civic-mindedness or a complete lack of actual lives, take your pick. The lowest was Phoenix, with only about 24 percent, which might mean that they're confident their guy McCain has already won, or that they're sick of him, take your pick again. South Florida was somewhere in the middle, with about 37 percent of the TVs on the debate.

Read the whole story: McClatchy

Comments

[FATGIRL37]

Was I mistaken or did I hear Obama screw up John McCain's name at least twice during the debate? I heard a Jim and a Tom.

[rosal]

The corporate controled media wanted 100 million. Now you know why they are calling it a "tie", maybe the next debate they can get their 100, if the fight continues and we "don't know" who the winner is. Same with the polls. Its all about ratings and profit, but we KNOW who the winner was

Obama-Biden 08

[SwingVoter]

Watch Obama Live: http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/hqblog

[Bond007]

Just remember people,, there are actually people who voted for Bush twice. Not once, but twice,,, these foolish voters are going to swamp us again at the polls this year. They overwhelm us every election year. Just watch, they are going to vote for the McBush ticket this year. We are in a deep funk America. It is going to take a miracle for America to recover. This is not a lie. Just watch!

[David1752]

a person that votes for McSame this Nov. is one of two things; 1. Racist or 2. Thinks that the last
eight years have been great.

[DallasNE]

What strikes me is that only 57 million viewed the debate. What ever happened to the 80-100 million that were expected to view the debate. Was McCain successful in his gambit to not participate in the debate. How many millions didn't watch the debate because they didn't think McCain would participate. I find it discouraging that only 57 million viewed this debate. That is a pathetic number, not a number to be celebrated.

[truthforme]

My husband and I watched on the internet. T.V. is soooo yesterday . . . .

[clevelandtocali]

Remember, that's individual sets they're counting, not people. Many places here in Houston had watch parties, as well as all over the country. I would put the number closer to 65-70 million.

[FaceYourFears]

I expect viewership to be at least a 100 mil for the VP debate!

[Whatashame]

John McCain changes postion so much am starting to get dizzy.

[georgeraft]

John McCain

Real Change--every other hour!

[confusedintexas]

Should be a bumper sticker

[RStone]

I would have thought the numbers would have been higher but it was great to see Obama do so well against McSame.

http://www.boppoll.com

Obama '08

[mespace]

Interesting that St. Louis is right on the edge of Illinois, where the most people tuned in. And the least watchers were in Phoenix, McCain's home turf. McCain isn't interesting to watch. He's more of a do-er and less of a talker. I would say Obama's "celebrity" appeals to people more inclined to watch TV to be entertained. So if you don't care for Obama, you aren't interested in being entertained by him, and you certainly don't want to be entertained by McCain. http://mespace.wordpress.com

[SixtiesRebel]

http://demockracy.com/did-mccain-say-horseshit/

You decide.

[PTAPittbull]

fix news said only 25 mil watched the debate because
mccains people knew it wasn't important and that is should have been postponed to deal with the crisis"
New slogun from mccain

"Crisis FIrst"

[neo1]

McCain is a crisis.

[theophagousmonkey]

McCain reminded me of Grandpa Simpson. Just the guy we need in the White House. How long before he throws over Cindy for Sarah and finds himself in a gunfight with Todd in the oval office?

[Pappa]

One thing that McCain said that myself and other ex-military who served in hot zones disbelieve is his statement that the GIs said or implied that they wanted to stay and win. The only ones who I recall who would ever say such a statement is young officer and enlisted guys who were bucking for another stripe or bar. Frankly, they wer very few of them and most of us stayed away from them. Case in point; over 80% of the troops suported Obama over McCain. Considering that most GIs came equally from most states; why is their support not the same as the population which is about 47 to 45%?

[deadcustodian]

There are no winners in war.
MKKKain =
Pathetic
Out of touch
War monger

[momof3inGA]

Great post.....and thank you so much for your service.

[timezone]

Thank you for your input, Pappa, and for your service.

[Stretchluv]

Spot on! Another thing McCain said about the military is he and Lindsay Graham got to see X amount of Soldiers re-enlist during one of their visits. Here is the deal with re-up in the Army in Iraq: many Soldiers re-up to get a FAT BONUS and tax free. This is no joke. The Army is also short on Captains and they are now giving bonuses to CPTs to stay in the Army too. I am not discrediting anyone's service, but many people stay in if the bonus money is right.

The best Army money can buy. No one really cares about Iraq.

[StandUpAmerica08]

Palin takes questions during cheesesteak run

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/09/27/palin-takes-questions-during-cheesesteak-run/#comments

[Paul Peete - Huffpost Blogger]

If the only questions she answers is whether or not she'll have fries with that, I don't want to hear it. Until Palin is willing to face the real MSM who are already soft on real questions and issues, I'd just as well let the handlers keep her out of the public eye. ABC did the nation a disservice when they refused to allow Joe Biden on air after the debate because Palin refused their offer. Since cheesesteak represents a Philly cultural food like gumbo is to my native New Orleans, her even ordering it is subject to interpretation as trying to curry favor with Pennsylvania voters.