Viewing of the second GOP debate on Sept. 27 fell to 4.1 million homes, a notable 39% drop from the 6.6 million homes that watched that first GOP debate, according to Samba TV.
Former president Donald Trump, who is by far the most popular candidate for the 2024 Republican nomination, didn’t participate in either debate, which likely hurt audience levels.
On average, households watched the second debate for a total of 59 minutes - also down (-24%) from debate #1, which averaged 78 minutes, Samba TV reported.
Similar to the first debate, Samba TV reported that more liberal-leaning households (defined as the top 33% of liberal political TV viewers or the top 33% of households who support liberal causes) watched the second debate than than conservative households by a hefty margin of 68%.
The fact that more self-defined liberals than conservatives watched the second debate may relate to the fact that Donald Trump skipped the debate, Samba TV said.
Though more defined liberals watched vs. conservatives, conservative households did, however spend 3 more minutes on average watching the GOP Debate.
Older households over-indexed on viewership of the debate, while younger audiences under-indexed. The strongest over indexes were among households A65-74 (+22%) and 75+ (+38%), while Gen Z, millennial, and even Gen X households all under-indexed, Samba TV reported.
Looking at some key states, viewership indexed compared to the U.S. overall, showed that Florida over indexed the most (+41%), followed Iowa +21%, South Carolina +20%, Arizona +13%, Nevada +6%, New Hampshire -7%, North Carolina -12%, Georgia -19%
The states that over-indexed the highest on viewership were Wyoming, North Dakota, and Florida (+47%, + 42%, and +41%, respectively), while Hawaii and Vermont under-indexed by the highest margins (-48% and -44%).
The debate aired on Fox Business Network and Fox News, and in Spanish on Univision.
